


I Didn't Plan It

by So_Ginelle



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Back To You - Selena Gomez, Break Up, Coincidental meet up, Drama, Fling - Freeform, Light Angst, Love, M/M, Memories of the Past, Mutual Pining, New Neighbors, Sex, Smut, Song fic, Vacation, Vacation Fling, i forgot to tag that stuff oops, kurootsukki smut, kurotsuki - Freeform, love drama, new relationships, past relationship, post college AU, relationship drama, tsukkiyama smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-07-24 11:23:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 66,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16174064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/So_Ginelle/pseuds/So_Ginelle
Summary: Tsukishima Kei works very hard at his job. It's rather exhausting, but he does it anyway without complaining. His friends notice and they miss him, so they force him to take an all-paid-for vacation. He complains for the first week of the vacation that he takes alone, but then he meets an interesting character by the name of Kuroo Tetsurou. They spend time together on the vacation and have a fling, but Kei eventually has to go home and doesn't take any contact information with him about Kuroo. It was a better vacation than he was anticipating. Two years later, Tsukki learns that his new neighbor is coincidentally Kuroo. Both boys are now in new relationships that deserve chances, but what will they do about the mutual pining and the past memories that keep surfacing?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I have been infiltrated with the KuroTsuki disease very badly, and this fic is honestly to show how many feels I've been having for them. I regret saying that I would never see these two lovely boys together and I would never ship it, because I finally see why they would be good together. As much as my TsukkiYama and BoKuroo heart hates it and it's creating inner turmoil inside me, I had to write this. 
> 
> I was just driving home from work one night when the Selena Gomez song came on, and the idea just hit me like a train. It doesn't help that my lovely friends have been poisoning me with the ship for a couple weeks now, but now I just find it far too cute to not write something about it.
> 
> Honestly, this fic is very mild compared to my others, but it still has angst in it. It's just not the same level of angst that my other fics have. I hope you enjoy this fic!

"Okay, so just one more time, go over the list with me so Asahi doesn't have a panic attack later? You have your glasses case and lens cleaner, inhaler in case of emergencies, pain killers for headaches you'll get drinking too much, chargers for your phone..." It was early in the morning, far too early for anyone to be alive, or awake that is, let alone actually doing things. It was five in the morning, and only the strong men in the world woke up at these types of hours.

Eyes were rolled and a sigh was let out into the air. It seemed as if these questions were annoying, especially now, of all times. Tsukishima Kei knew he had everything he was told to take with him. Not that he really wanted to take this trip in the first place, but he knew he had everything. "Yeah, I have all of that. Thanks for forcing me here and driving me against my will, by the way. Oh, before you ask, I have enough clothes, my swimwear, the spending cash you guys gave me... I have my ID too." The salt that rolled off of Kei's tongue was very thick and it was enough to fill a salt mill.

Nodding and typing a text, Nishinoya Yuu had started to compose a text for Asahi Azumane, he was assuming. Kei knew that his boyfriend was the type to worry and be cautious about everything. He still agreed that this was a good idea for Kei to go on a vacation and relax, but if Asahi were packing Kei's back, he would have two more bags to take with him. "You know what I don't have?" Kei asked, shooting a look over to Noya with a very dark tone in his pupils. Noya looked at him and he knew exactly what was going on. But it had been the same for a few days now.

"Tsukki... You're being relentless about this. You're not getting out of this, and you know it. I know you want an answer to why we are making you go, but you won't take our answer of 'we want you to relax and stop working so hard,' so you'll either have to live with that answer, or you'll just have to go on without a good response." The dark-haired man with a blond streak in his bangs had crossed his arms, looking over Tsukishima with a disapproving look. Usually, Noya was too energetic for him and he would brush the older male aside, but everyone else thought that Noya would be the best choice to take Kei to the airport.

This was beyond frustrating, but Tsukishima was just going to have to accept his fate and just go on this vacation. He could remember the day perfectly, the day he was cornered by his best friends and told to sit down. It still haunted him.

\---

_"Kei, we want to talk to you. Sit down, okay? Just... hear us out, yeah?" Hinata had said, with Kageyama and Yamaguchi standing behind him. Noya was sitting on the couch already, probably texting with the rest of their gang. So Kei sighed and went to sit on his couch. He couldn't remember why he had given Yamaguchi a key to his apartment, but he had one, and right now, it seemed like the worst decision he had ever made. No one else had a key, either, so Tadashi was really to blame about this._

_As Hinata came forward, he was rubbing his hands, and it made it seem like Hinata was actually nervous. That wasn't common for the orange haired boy, so this must be something serious. Kei was wondering who had died now, or what other tragic thing had happened. Or, he wondered what they had fucked up and what the boys had broke of his. "What am I hearing out? What do you want to talk to me about? And is it going to take long? Because I have to get to sleep for work tomorrow."_

_Looks were exchanged between the boys. Had Kei said something? What was going on?_

_Taking a breath, Kageyama came forward and rubbed at the back of his head. Kei was really worried right now. "We want to talk to you about work. This is why we are here, Kei. We've known you for years, and you were a hard worker in school and all of that, but you would take breaks then! Now, we're lucky if you even come over for game nights that only happen twice a week!"_

_The words had gone over Kei's head and he made a face, simply because he didn't want to hear any of this. He didn't need to be told about his life, he didn't need to be told that he was missing out on things. Kei had no choice, because he had to work. It was such a demanding job, so he really didn't have time to take breaks. "Kageyama, I don't have time for random break days now. Work is just really important to-"_

_"More important than your friends? More important than being happy, or spending time with the ones you love and focusing on what you love doing?" Yamaguchi had spoken up right then, taking a step forward, and he had his fist clenched, as if he was really passionate about this whole thing. Yamaguchi was the one friend he had truly trusted, which was the reason he even had a key to Tsukki's apartment. But if he was going to yell at him like this, Kei wasn't too terribly sure about how far his trust could go anymore._

_Sitting up straight and narrowing his eyes, Kei had to think of something to say. He knew that this wasn't a conversation that could be taken lightly. "You know that you guys are more important to me than work. But I can't just mess around and have as much free time as I used to. I don't have the luxury of just taking time off, or coming over to hang anymore." Kei was very serious about this, because work was really just that important to him._

_Sighing, Yamaguchi shook his head and came closer, taking a seat on Kei's coffee table to sit in front of him. "That's why we're doing this. It's for you, Tsukki. We just care about you this much and we want you to know that we care dearly about you. If you're not careful, you will run yourself into the ground. If you're not careful, you will make yourself sick and we really just don't want that."_

_This was starting to become confusing. What were they doing? It made Kei feel like he was getting an intervention. It made him feel like he was doing something wrong, when he was just working. That was really all it was! "I'm not going to make myself sick. And doing what? What did you guys stupidly do for me?" Kei was becoming skeptical as he looked around the room._

_It was time for Noya to speak up, apparently. The man cleared his throat and he pulled out an envelope that Kei hadn't noticed. He then held it up. Kei tried to reach for it, but Noya pulled it away and gave him a look. "I'd be crazy if I willingly gave this up to you. That's not going to happen until you agree to it. If we have to, we're going to force this on you."_

_What in the world were they talking about? Why couldn't Kei see what was in the envelope? Sighing, Kei sat back and nodded, as if to tell Noya to continue. It didn't seem to take much to convince the boy to continue talking. "We are going to have you go on a vacation, Tsukishima. We have paid for the plane tickets, we have you set up in a decent hotel in Tokyo, and we're going to have you take a vacation and relax. You are working way too hard, and we miss having you around. So maybe taking this vacation will get you to relax and see that life doesn't have to be all work and no play. Oh, and before you go and say that you can't because of work, we have already talked to your boss. He's giving you the time off."_

_This was a nightmare if Kei had ever heard one. This was an absolute mess, and there was no way that he was going to just lose against his friends. He knew how stubborn they could be. He knew how awful it could be if the boys had their mind set on something like this. But really, Kei just didn't want to do this. Not that he had a choice in the matter, but Kei was pissed off that they would just force this on him. Anyone else would be grateful to take a trip to Tokyo and take advantage of the free trip. But not Kei. He could fight against them. Oh, did he try to fight against them. But really? There were four - if not more than - against one person so Tsukishima didn't stand a chance._

\---

Sighing softly as Kei looked towards the airport doors, the place to go in for dropping off his bags, there were so many thoughts running through his head at the moment that made him want to reconsider all of his friendships. "Two and a half weeks... Really, you guys are the worst. Shouldn't you guys have just forced me to stay home for two weeks?"

Letting out a laugh, and it was a belly laugh that was deep down to the core, Noya shook his head and took a breath to regain himself after laughing so hard before he started to speak. "Do you think we're stupid enough to let you stay home with your work laptop and ways to get to work? We wanted you to leave home and get away from everything related to work, so you had no choice but to actually take a vacation," Noya said as he unlocked the car. "Now get out. I'm going to ask the staff if you actually got on the plane, too, so don't try to hide out or avoid getting on the plane. You're going on this. I don't care how much you don't like it," Noya said with a devilish look in his eyes as he smiled to Kei. "Have a good time, and take lots of pictures so we know you actually went."

It wasn't fair, but it was just something that had to be done. Kei had accepted his fate by now and he knew there was absolutely no way he was going to get out of this. "Fine. I guess I'll see you jerks in two and a half weeks," Kei said in a groan as he got out of the car. He would slam the door, since he was feeling angry enough. But this was Noya's new car, so Tsukki really didn't want to cause any other issues. Noya opened the trunk and Kei went to get out his three bags. Two were going into baggage, and the other was going on the plane with him.

After getting everything out of the car, Kei walked towards the airport and shuddered to think that the argument about Kei working too hard had only happened a few days ago. He was still trying to figure them all out, if he was being honest. He wanted to figure out what their motive was behind all of this, or what they would gain from this, other than more stubbornness and more sarcastic comments. But he didn't want to fight against them anymore, since he had already lost this whole argument and they were pushing this all on him regardless. He was just tired of the fighting.

It didn't take long to get through security due to the time of the flight, and his flight was scheduled to take off soon, so he wouldn't have to wait too long at the gate entrance. Kei just put his headphones on and waited, watching as the sunlight had slowly started to shine through the windows. It was still far too early. Kei didn't even get up this early for work usually, and that was saying something.

The flight wasn't long at all. It was also a relatively smooth one, so at least there was that he had to be thankful for if he was being forced to do this. Kei had gotten to Tokyo in one piece, sadly enough, and he started to head out of the airport after grabbing his two bags from the baggage claim. He waved down a taxi and he gave instructions to the hotel, cursing his friends for forcing this whole thing onto him. He did so silently, but it still have him a very rough expression for the taxi driver. But he would have to let this go eventually. Surely enough, the week would drag on, and he would go back and complain to them about being there.

Tsukishima pulled out his phone and took pictures of the buildings, as well as a giant sign that said he was in Tokyo, just to send to the group and prove that he was really in Tokyo like they were expecting. They asked him to take selfies of being there, but that was one thing he was not going to do. He didn't care how much they begged, but he was not taking a picture of himself to give them any sort of satisfaction. Once he had gotten to the hotel, he took pictures of the hotel as well and sent them to the group too, hoping that this picture would make them happy enough and leave them content enough to leave him alone.

A groan had escaped Kei's mouth and it seemed that groaning was going to be something he did every day of this vacation. As he checked in with the front desk and got his key, he looked to see what room he ended up with. His friends had gotten him one of the nicer rooms, so he didn't have to worry about it being an uncomfortable living space for two and a half weeks. If he was smart about all of this, he would have taken the time to have fun and actually enjoy Tokyo. It was only the fourth time he had been to Tokyo, and the other times happened before he turned sixteen. But it wasn't like Kei to not think about work, so it was difficult not to have his work laptop, or even his work phone, so he wasn't going to be smart about this. They wouldn't even let Kei take his work tablet that couldn't connect to WiFi or one of his notebooks. They were far too serious about this, so Tsukishima would have to abide by their rules.

If Kei were being honest, his subconscious mind had really started to appreciate the appearance of the hotel. It was a very nicely designed building, with a large entry way and there was artwork on the wall. If he was into art related things, Kei would definitely check out all of the art. But unfortunately, he wasn't too terribly focused on the finer things in life, just because he didn't have a choice with work. Kei also had noticed the gorgeous statues in the lobby, and he noticed that the hotel connected to a restaurant on one side and the hotel then shifted a very modern feel on the other side, with what looked to be a hotel bar and access to some sort of pool. This was going to be his new home for a while, so he would at least appreciate the gorgeous work around the building and everything there were to appreciate, regardless of how highly he wanted to tell his friends that it was a waste to spend all this money on him.

An elevator took him up to his floor and he had gotten to the hotel in time to see that there were a few people cleaning rooms on this floor. It was a nice feeling to know that he would have a clean room. He had passed by a room where music was playing and it was some sort of ridiculous rock song. Kei wasn't opposed to that type of music, but he just preferred other things. Shaking his head when he saw the housekeeper shaking his but while folding the towels, Kei decided to go to his room and go to get settled in.

After getting settled into his room and texting the group for a while to tell them that yes, he was in fact in Tokyo, he figured he would at least go see what the hotel had to offer. He wasn't going to go out into Tokyo and explore, nor was he really going to do much other than stay at the bar or go swimming. At the very least, they had told him to take his swimwear, so he could go do that. It would distract him from thinking about work, but he was sure that his friends had wanted him to do more than sit in his hotel room. Maybe then, his friends would be satisfied that he didn't just sit in his room and sulk the whole time. That was all he was going to do, anyway. If it didn't satisfy them, they would just have to realize that they wasted the vacation on the wrong person.

Venturing out of the room and towards the hall again, he let out another sound of dissatisfaction that was going to be a common occurrence for this whole trip. There couldn't possibly be anything good that happened during this vacation, so there was no point for Kei to even try.

Really, all Kei had done all vacation was what he assumed he would spend his time on. He was only ever seen in the lobby, by the pool, or at the bar, drinking away his depression of being away from work. He was not having fun with any of this, but at least the hotel was nice, friendly, and it wasn't a dirty one. The staff had given Kei a small notepad to take notes on, and he was going to shove it in his friends' faces that he found a way to work anyway, since they didn't seem to want him to work anymore. What was the problem they had with his work, anyway? It was such an intensive job, and he was trying to work his way up the company ladder so he could actually have free time.

It had been the first four days already, and Kei was sitting at the bar, drinking his gin and juice. He had decided that he had worked enough already for the day, but he needed a drink to get rid of his headache and get over the annoyance his friends were causing him. They had tried calling him, they wanted to see or hear about what exciting things Kei had been getting up to. But Kei wasn't going to give them satisfaction, so he put his phone on silent and he made sure they couldn't contact him. He'd even turned off all of his read receipts for texts, so they couldn't check in on him that way.

Sighing a bit, Kei reached his hand up and tried to get the bartender's attention. After a moment or two, the bartender looked over and gave a small smile. "Another?" he asked, and Tsukishima nodded. When the bartender had made the drink, he walked over with it, pushing his hair back a bit. It fell back in his face, which was rather comical, but Kei didn't think he could really put too much focus on it. "So, I've seen you around. What are you doing out in Tokyo? I mean... I don't think I've seen you leave, so are you just trapped in the hotel or something?" the man asked with a bit of a chuckle.

Tensing up, Kei took another sip of his gin and juice. "I'm on vacation, I guess," Kei said as he held the drink up to his lips again and took a sip. This wasn't a story he wanted to tell a complete stranger. This wasn't a story he really wanted to tell anyone, if he was being honest. So he wasn't likely to tell the story to this random bartender. Although, his dark and crazy hair seemed to be nice. This stranger was a nice person to look at. Although, Kei knew it wasn't all about looks anyway, so he had to push those thoughts away and he really just wanted to get up and walk away from this.

The stranger snorted a bit, but he put his hand up, telling Kei that he wasn't going to ask any more questions. That was kind of a relief, if he was being honest. There was no way he was going to tell this story to a complete stranger.

As Tsukki stood up, he paid the bartender and gave him a decent tip before he walked away to go back to his room. This entire thing got him far too frustrated, so he had to go back to his room to go focus on work once more. He knew that he really shouldn't have been, he knew his friends would be pissed off if they knew that he was just working on work ideas on a notebook. But they had to know by now that he would do this. They were friends with Kei, after all, so they knew that he would pull a stunt like this. Or at the very least, they knew that Kei was likely to do something like this, if not only just think about doing it.

The rest of the week had slowly dragged on, and Kei groaned to himself once more to think that he had ten more days of this. He had come up with some good work ideas that he desperately needed to get back home for and he had to type up in his laptop, so he could take them back to work and give them all the ideas. But that wouldn't be for another ten days, so at the moment, he was drying off his hair and he went back to the bar, after changing from getting out of the pool.

Why did his friends have to hate him so much? Why did they torture him like this and why did they make him go through all of this? It was this event that really had Kei thinking that he needed new friends. Or, he started to think that maybe he could be a hermit and not have friends at all. That wasn't a very pleasant thought, but it was at least something to threaten his friends with when he went back home.

As he took his pool bag to go and sit at the bar, Tsukishima had taken a seat and he laid his head down on the bar top. How long could ten days really be? How long was ten days going to stretch for? He thought that really, he could probably pay for a plane ticket to go back home. But he wasn't sure how much of a fight he wanted to get into with his friends. He knew that they were going to get into a fight regardless, but if he flew home, he was sure he would lose all of his friends anyway.

A bartender came over and the man cleared his throat. Kei had let out a mumble of just gibberish words, but he had finally sat up to look at the man. It was the same bartender he had seen all week, except for on a very small amount of occasions that Kei had been at the bar. "You okay? It doesn't seem like you're enjoying your vacation."

Snorting, Kei shook his head and he rubbed at his temple. "You've got that right," Kei had said as he met the other man's whiskey-colored eyes. The color of his eyes seemed to be brown, but there were golden flecks throughout them. They were nice eyes, Kei thought. It was the bartender with the black hair with fringe that hung over his right eye, and it was styled up into spikes in the back, so it was hard to tell what color his eyes were before. His hair really was wild, but it did seem to suit his face nicely. Kei had wondered how that hairstyle had come to be.

"I'm sorry to hear that! What'll it be tonight? Another rum and coke?" the bartender asked. Kei had noticed his name tag this time around, and it caused him to tilt his head, wondering if the man had been wearing a name tag the other times he had encountered him.

Tetsurou. His name was Tetsurou, and that was an intriguing name to have. It certainly suited the bartender.


	2. Chapter 2

_What was it that the bartender was asking, again?_ Slowly, but surely, Kei brought his eyes up and looked to the other man's eyes once more with a questioning glance. It was impolite to stare anyway, so Kei cleared his throat and did his best to remember what he was asking. Finally, it came back to him that the bartender was asking what he wanted to drink. "Yeah, sure, another rum and coke. Make it the top shelf stuff tonight, too," Kei had said as he looked away, trying not to be rude.

The bartender's name was stuck in his head, and Tsukishima was having a hard time thinking about anything other than the name. What was it about Tetsurou that had that effect on people, Kei wondered briefly. Sure, every single time that Kei had encountered him, he was friendly and seemed to be the kind of person that everyone wanted to hang around. But what was it about the man that had that type of pull on people?

As Tetsurou brought back the drink, he glanced around at his other bar guests before he leaned over the bar and plopped his face in his hands, looking at Tsukishima with sad eyes. Those whiskey-colored eyes were far too close right now and Tsukki had to do his best and do everything in his power to keep his own eyes down on his drink. "What's wrong, buttercup?" the man asked.

Usually, Tsukki absolutely hated nicknames. But this was one of the first times he had been called buttercup, and it way by a man that hardly knew him. There was something just a bit endearing about that, but Tsukki couldn't let this break down his tough exterior. Tsukki took a sip of his rum and he let out a breath after. He didn't realize he had drank nearly half it with the first sip, so he would have to watch how much he had from now own. "It's... Tsukishima," he said as he took another sip. This time, he forced himself to take only one small sip, so he wouldn't down the entire drink too quickly.

A smile crept itself onto Kuroo's face and he removed one of his hands from his face, twirling his other fingers around the hair that hung in his face. It was unfair just how attractive this man was, but Kei was trying to keep his eyes elsewhere and doing his best not to stare. He wasn't even supposed to have romantic interests right now, so he couldn't get caught up on some random bartender from Tokyo when they weren't likely to see each other after this week was up, anyway. "It's nice to meet you, Tsukishima. A real, genuine introduction. I'm Kuroo Tetsurou," he stated with a wink. It was a wink that shot an arrow straight through Kei's heart.

The last name even fit him well, and Tsukki was going to lose his mind here if he learned anymore about the man. The pure anxiety was building up inside of Kei once more and he downed the rest of his drink. The raven-haired male tilted his head and hummed a bit, reaching to take Kei's glass from him. "Another? I take it you're having a hard time out on this trip if you're drinking like that," Kuroo said as he refilled the drink without waiting for a confirmation from Tsukishima. He wasn't going to turn down the offer of another drink anyway, so that just took out another step for them to have to take.

Groaning again and throwing his head down on the bar wood, Tsukishima shook his head. "It's miserable. Sure, the hotel is nice and it's nice to get to swim so much, but I just want to go home." If Kei wasn't careful, he was going to tell this man the entire story. So he had to stop there. Pulling his head back up, he looked back at the rum in front of him, reaching for it and going to take more sips from the alcoholic beverage. It was as if Kuroo could understand his frustrations and how they were affecting Kei, because Kuroo had made the drink a little stronger this time around. It was just how Kei had wanted it.

Looking Tsukishima over, Kuroo hummed as he looked over the boy. "Is there a reason you can't go out to see Tokyo? It really is an incredible city, if I can say so myself," Kuroo said as he washed a glass that another bar guest had left. "I mean, even just down the road, you can go shopping at the stores. They have a lot to offer, and there's different types of stores too," Kuroo said as he stood back in front of the boy, leaning back against his own counter and crossing his arms.

The second drink was gone within another couple of minutes and Kuroo refilled it again. "I don't want to go out shopping though. There are plenty of shops back home that I can visit. I just want to go back home," Tsukki whined a bit as he took the third drink. This was a very dangerous game for Tsukki to be playing, but he downed half of the glass again.

Letting out a concerned sound, Kuroo tried to reach for Tsukishima's glass, but he pulled it closer to him before Kuroo even got the chance. "Maybe slow down on the drinks there? I put two shots in the first drink, four in the second... only three in this one, but you're still up to about seven shots now..." It was actually touching that the bartender was so concerned about Tsukki, but it wasn't like he was going to go anywhere or do anything dangerous. So what was the big deal if he got drunk?

Shaking his head, Kei downed the rest of his drink. He could feel the alcohol slowly working in him and he had set his glass down, letting out a laugh that sounded a little too fake, even for his own liking. "Keep them coming. I don't care if you put just one shot in each, but I want to forget that I'm even here," Kei said as he slid his glass over to Kuroo. It slid off the back of the bar, but luckily enough, Kuroo had caught the glass, only losing an ice cube or two.

The two boys had a bit of a stare down right then, and Kuroo was sizing Tsukishima up. But wouldn't he get in trouble if he didn't serve Kei what he wanted? Sighing again, Kuroo had gone to poor another drink for Kei. He gave him two shots and Tsukishima had cheered quietly at the victory. "Really, though, what's got you all upset? I know you want to go home... so why can't you?" Kuroo asked with a frown. He was sure that if Tsukishima had the money to spend on drinks like this, he would have enough for a plane ticket.

It didn't seem like Tsukishima was going to respond to him, but that was apparently a false thing to assume. "My friends would kill me," Tsukki said as he looked down at his glass again, the pink flush on his cheeks starting to get a little brighter as the alcohol worked in him. "That's why I'm staying in Tokyo for the next week, and then I finally get to go home," he said with a bit of a cheer at the end. "It's a long story."

There was no way that Tsukishima wasn't getting just a little tipsy. He was probably drunk, if Kuroo was correct in his thoughts. But he had to push his thoughts about this blond, handsome boy aside for the moment. It was dangerous to even get close to the boy, but Tsukishima was just pulling him in. It was hard to fight against the boy at the moment. "I've got time, you know. I don't get to leave the bar until three AM," he said with a smile, going to take a drink of his water as he leaned back against the counter again.

Once again, Kei got quiet, but he sighed a bit afterward. "Do you really want to hear a story like this from a stranger? It's a long story, and it's not fun. At least it's not fun to me..." A pout had formed on Kei's lips and he started to look a bit sadder. He met Kuroo's eyes once again, and Kuroo could just tell that the boy was drunk. There was no way he wasn't drunk, Kuroo thought.

Thinking for a minute, Tsukki just sat there and thought about the situation he was in. Did he really want to share the story with some random stranger? Probably not, but he wasn't sure he had the strength to hold back while he had been drinking this much and he had been so upset at his friends. "I'm sure it's not, buttercup, but I'm here to listen if you want me to listen to you."

A sigh of relief seemed to leave Tsukishima's lips at that, and he smiled a bit. He really did want to tell the story, but he just wasn't sure who was going to want to listen. At least the bartender at the hotel was willing to. "So... like I said, it's a long story, so I'll start at the beginning. A couple of years ago, I was offered this job and they told me it would be hard work. Well, I didn't mind having to work hard and I really didn't mind working extra, because I wasn't doing anything with my life. Well, I've moved up in the job since then and even though I still work long hours and have the same work that the other employees do, it's better pay. What did that get me?" Tsukishima took another sip of his drink after saying that, and Kuroo raised an eyebrow.

Clearing his throat, Kuroo had to glance around at the other bar guests to make sure that they were okay. He turned back to Tsukishima right then though and the boy continued his story. "What did it get you?" he asked out of curiosity.

Laughing, Kei set down his glass and ran a hand over his forehead. "It got me a bunch of friends that hate me! They claimed that they missed me and wanted me to take a break, but don't they realize that it was pointless? One, I'm going to go back to work and they still won't get to see me, and two I'll have to spend even longer catching up at work because of this!" Kei had said and Tetsurou looked over him a bit. He wished he had friends that would send him on a vacation.

"Did... they pay for it?" Kuroo asked as he was not entirely believing the story he was being told. Tsukishima would have to have great friends for them to pay for a trip out in Tokyo, so he wasn't buying the whole story. And for two and a half weeks?

Nodding, Kei sighed again as he looked up at Kuroo, the pout was still present on his face. "They did. And you know what? They didn't even get to see me through this whole thing, so I don't quite understand why they thought it was a good idea to send me out on a vacation. It makes no sense. Sure, they could have taken me on a vacation and they would have gotten to spend time with me, but this isn't making me take a break. It's making me more anxious about returning to work," Kei had said as he settled his cheek in his palm, leaning his elbow on the bar and propping his head up.

Hearing the way Tsukishima was rambling, Kuroo was going to cut him off on his drinks right there and make fake drinks for him, just because he was getting a little too drunk at that point. Kuroo didn't want to be responsible for cleaning up vomit later. "Why not make them happy and just enjoy Tokyo? I'm sure they would love if you did something other than spend time in the hotel room they spent so much money on," Kuroo said.

Taking one more sip from his drink, Kei went back to leaning against the bar. He looked up to Kuroo again with narrowed eyes. "And give them satisfaction? I don't think so," Kei said as he finished up his drink again and slid the glass towards Kuroo. Luckily enough, Kuroo had caught the glass again didn't even spill ice cubes this time.

Finally, Kuroo let out a laugh and he started to get a whine out of Tsukishima. It wasn't entirely fair that the boy was teasing him as heavily as he was, but Kuroo just couldn't help it. Sure, the story was long and it hurt Tsukishima, but to Kuroo, it was a laugh of a story. It was a joke. "Wow, I'm sorry buttercup, but it's definitely a waste of a vacation. If you want to keep these friends, who sound like awesome friends, you might consider venturing out into Tokyo and not wasting the rest of the vacation and making them a little happy. Who's to say you'll get this chance again?"

Weighing the options in his head, Kei huffed and looked Kuroo up and down, trying to size up the man as well. He finally had an idea and he narrowed his eyes, getting Kuroo's smile to slowly fade. "Well, okay then. Why don't _you_ make sure that I don't waste the rest of my vacation?" Tsukki had said. Sure, when he wasn't drunk and when he was back to thinking properly, he was going to regret saying that.

The offer was tempting, and Tsukishima was giving him such a dark, but alluring look, that it was hard to pass up this offer. Even if Kuroo had wanted to say no, it would have been hard to turn down the offer. It didn't help that Tsukishima was a very attractive man. "I don't have a choice to turn down that challenge. Prepare yourself, buttercup. I'm going to give you a week that you won't forget."

Shrugging his shoulders, Tsukki was pretty sure that he wasn't going to lose this challenge. Kuroo smirked a bit and he let out a bit of a chuckle. Neither boy thought that this was going to be dangerous, and neither boy cared where it took them. "I bet I will forget it. Just like your stupid, gorgeous face that I'm going to forget. I bet I'll forget it all," Tsukki started to slur as he pushed himself up to stand in a very slow and stumbling way. But he managed, with Kuroo walking around the bar and offering to help him just in case. He did managed to get to his feet and he seemed to be more steady now that he was.

Clicking his tongue, Kuroo shook his head. He realized right then that Tsukishima was just slightly taller than him, but he was also close enough to realize just how attractive the boy was now. After it registered what Tsukishima had said, he let out a whine of his own. He didn't realize it right then, but hearing Tsukishima say that he was going to forget his face was hitting him harder than he had realized. He hardly even knew the boy, so why was it affecting him this way? "As long as you don't forget about me by the morning. Give me a fair chance to make the rest of your trip a good one?"

As the sigh left Kei's lips, he started to walk. "I guess I can give you a fair shot. Good luck getting me to remember you, though." Kei had to focus on walking a little harder, mostly because he didn't want to risk tripping over anything. He had nearly ran into another couple, but he just barely avoided them as he made his way to the elevator.

It took Tsukki nearly ten minutes to get back up to his room, as he was stumbling and he had gotten a bit lost. Then, he struggled to use the key card to unlock his room. It took a hotel staff member to help him get into his room before he crashed down on his bed, barley even managing to have his head hit the pillows. It was probably midnight by the time Kei had made it back to his room, and it was probably close to eight before Kei had finally pushed himself out of bed. That wasn't very common for Kei. He usually only slept for five hours a night, so getting more than seven hours was oversleeping for him.

As he sat up and looked himself over, he gave himself a sniff and he made a face, shaking his head as he went to go to the bathroom. He stunk, he smelled like body odor and alcohol, and he just wanted to get the stench off of himself. If he could just get himself clean, he would be able to make his way to go continue this crappy vacation. Not until he was clean, though.

That was when it hit him. Didn't he make plans with that bartender last night...? Weren't they supposed to go do things today? Trying to remember last night, he groaned and he took his glasses off. Maybe he should just focus on a bath for now, since his own stench was causing him a bit more of a headache than it should be. Getting himself clean would probably be the best option for right now.

He grabbed his headphones, oh so very glad that they were noise cancelling headphones, as he was pretty sure that his hotel neighbors were going to drive him insane with all of their banging on the walls, which was likely coming from their constant sex. It was a little annoying, but Kei was just very glad that noise cancelling headphones were a thing and he had his with him.

Once turning on the warm water, he plugged up the tub and decided that it was a good morning to just soak in the bath. Usually, he was completely against any of this and he would just shower quickly and go about his day. But after getting drunk last night and feeling the after curses of the alcohol, he was regretting getting as bad of a hangover as he had gotten. He was definitely not going to do that again. At least, not while he was on this vacation. That was what he thought, anyway.

Soaking in the tub that morning did him a lot of good, he washed his body, let the heat soak into him and he kept on his soft tunes, feeling how this was relaxing him and preparing him for meeting up with that absolutely gorgeous bartender from last night. Although, now that he was thinking about it, how did he let himself get conned into this? How did he let the bartender just talk him into spending time with him? That was definitely a concern of his, but whatever it was that convinced him that this was a good idea, he needed to prepare himself.

As he got out of the tub, he hummed along gently to his favorite song and he dripped off, grabbing a towel off of the towel rack and wrapping it around his waste. Since he didn't wash his hair, he didn't need to worry about that right now. If Kuroo hadn't gotten out until three in the morning last night, he wouldn't have to worry about seeing his face for a few more hours anyway.

At the very least, that was what Tsukki had thought. But as he pushed open the bathroom door, he stood in front of a tall, raven-haired male that had been standing in his room doing god knows what. The two exchanged looks and Tsukki had blinked for a moment, wondering if it was just in his imagination. But that was when he realized that Kuroo was very real and very much so in his hotel room. As he pulled off his headphones, he began to get livid. "K-Kuroo!" Tsukishima yelled, flinching a bit and attempting to hide a bit more of his body with his arms, turning a little. "What are you doing in here? If I had known that you were going to show me a time like this, I wouldn't have offered to spend time with you!"

Putting his hands up and shaking his head, Kuroo seemed to have an excuse worked up, although Tsukishima was wondering if he could believe said excuse. "Buttercup, I clean rooms too! I closed down the bar at two, finished up there, and started to clean rooms!" Kuroo had said, still holding onto one of Tsukishima's towels.

Like Kei was going to believe that one. "You really expect me to believe that you clean rooms too? I highly doubt it. You are the worst! Get out!" Kei yelled, throwing his hands up into the air to show Kuroo just how unbelievable his lie really was.

But it wasn't a lie. It was the god's honest truth, and really, Kei would have had to get to know Kuroo just a little more to believe it. The thing was, Kuroo didn't just bar tend for the hotel. He actually knew how to run many positions. He knew how to serve in their dining room, he knew how to run the front desks, and he knew how to clean rooms as well. For the most part, he had been bar-tending as of late, but this was one of those shifts they had given him for the day. So Kuroo had started to clean rooms after he closed up the bar and got everything cleaned up. Then he worked the front counter for two hours. Eventually, they excused him to go clean some rooms up on the floor they were on currently.

"Buttercup, if you don't believe me, how do you think I managed to get into your room then? They wouldn't give me a master room key for any reason other than this," Kuroo said and the boys had stared at each other a bit. When Tsukishima had let his arms down and slowly turned back to face Kuroo, though, it was absolutely disastrous.

It happened in slow motion. Kei had turned, and as he turned, his towel had rubbed into the door frame just enough to cause it to slip and shift on Kei's body, before it fell very gently to the floor. Tsukishima had gasped and he gaped a bit, his hands going straight down to his groin to cover his very private, very flaccid penis.

The other thing though was that Kuroo didn't try to look away when the towel had fallen. His eyes had grazed all over that beautiful, pale and smooth body. He had only caught a glimpse of the dick that Tsukishima had been hiding, and he licked his lips in some sort of anticipation. It was a bit comical to witness, actually. Tsukishima shuffled his naked body to circle around the towel and face his back end towards Kuroo before he bent a little to pick the towel up. He had picked it up and wrapped it around his waist and Kuroo let out a bit of a laugh. "There is nothing funny about this!"

Humming, Kuroo clicked his tongue. "Oh, come on. It was a _little_ funny. Even you can't be that cynical," Kuroo said as he continued to chuckle. But that was clearly a mistake, as the next thing he saw was a pillow, flying towards his head. "I just fluffed these!" Kuroo whined and he pouted a bit, pulling the pillow away from his face that he had caught, going to fluff the pillow a little more because it was just in his nature, especially because he was in his cleaning room's part of the shift.

"I guess you'll just have to fluff it again later, but get your ass out..." Tsukishima said with a glare and there was venom behind his eyes and voice.

The tone to Tsukishima's voice sent chills up Kuroo's spine, and they weren't necessarily the chills that he wanted to have. Sometimes chills could be a good thing. Sometimes, he was excited by the chills that people gave him. But this time around, there was nothing exciting about these chills. Here he was, excited to spend time with the blond, pale boy still, but shivering from the words that the boy had just let out. "I get off in like... twenty minutes if you want to come back down to the lobby," Kuroo said as he made his way towards the door.

Wondering just what it was the he was going to do, Tsukki hummed and just waited for the door to close behind Kuroo before he threw himself down on the bed and he started to groan about the interaction with Tetsurou that he had just had. He wasn't sure that he wanted to go down to the lobby anymore as it was, but he knew he would go down anyway, just because he subconsciously wanted to spend more time with Kuroo. The first interaction of the morning was a disaster, so he would just have to make sure that the rest of the interactions weren't as much of a disaster. He was wondering what the next interaction could possibly be that would make it more of a disaster.

Finally getting up and going to the dresser he had unpacked all of his clothes into, he pulled on some boxers and got himself dressed slowly. It was only a few minutes that it took to get dressed, so he decided to hang out in his room for a few more minutes before he wandered down to the lobby.

It was really only a few minutes, because Tsukki hadn't caught a sight of Kuroo for another ten minutes. The other boy was talking to someone with a similar uniform, so Tsukki could only assume that it was a coworker. But once Kuroo had caught his eyes on Tsukishima, he smiled and excused himself from talking to the coworker and went over to approach Kei, who was sitting in one of the lobbies comfortable chairs.

Pushing himself up, Tsukishima looked over Kuroo. "You've been working all night, you should probably get some rest. Go sleep and I can occupy myself," Tsukki had said.

That wasn't what Kuroo had wanted to hear, although it was very thoughtful of Tsukishima to think of him. "So I have an idea. I can sleep in the hotel room, since they have a couple rooms that are meant just for us. Then, afterwards, we can go out and explore Tokyo? I don't have to work again until tomorrow night, anyway, so I'm free all day today. I can just rest up and sleep for a couple hours, then meet you at your room if you want?"

Thinking about this whole thing, Tsukki had hummed. It had crossed his mind that he could potentially give Kuroo his number so the boy could just text him when he was awake. But that was definitely a very bad idea, so Kei sighed and figured it would be a good enough idea for Kuroo to text him when he was awake again. "Yeah, we can do that. I can't wait to see how you're going to try to impress me with Tokyo. I have the bar set high," Tsukki said with a bit of a smirk, and he let out a bit of a snicker.

Making a face, Kuroo waved him off and laughed. "If you don't think I'll be able to show you a good time, you're going to be disappointed in yourself for making that bet against me. I am going to show you the _best_ time that Tokyo has to offer," Kuroo had said as he stuck his tongue out to Tsukki. "Go relax for a bit, buttercup. I'll come knock on your door in just a few hours. Don't be wearing those noise cancelling headphones, either. I don't want to scare you again," Kuroo said with a chuckle as he walked off towards the elevators. 

This seemed to be quite the challenge, and Tsukishima wasn't one to generally get excited by things, simply because he didn't want to be let down. He remembered his first trip to the family zoo. He thought he was going to get to see the zebras and the tigers, but neither of them were available at the time. He could also remember when he had gotten excited to win a trip to the paleontology center and he thought he was going to get the chance to dig up actual bones. They were actual bones, but Tsukishima had been disappointed when he had learned that the bones were planted in the sand that he was digging in and they weren't difficult to dig up in the slightest. Finally, he remembered getting excited to make it on his school volleyball team, but none of that had really panned out to be something other than just constant disappointment.

That was why it was a surprise to him that he had actually started to become excited over spending time with Kuroo. Although he really did want Kuroo to get sleep, he was hoping to see Kuroo a little earlier than he was anticipating. As he went back to his room, he just decided to read his work notes on his phone, just to make sure he had everything sorted for when he got back.

When there was a knock upon his door, Tsukki looked at his watch with a bit of an odd look. It really had only been 45 minutes, so there was absolutely no way that it could be Kuroo. Could it?

Apparently, Tsukki needed to stop assuming things and he needed to just expect the unexpected around the male with the black hair. "Uh, aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" Tsukki asked as he held open the door and he rose an eyebrow to see a fresh Kuroo, who appeared to have slightly damp hair and he was definitely no longer wearing his work uniform. "I'm really okay if you want to go sleep, you know. I have work notes to go over anyway," Tsukki had said.

A pout had appeared on Kuroo's face and he shook his head. "I couldn't sleep. So I decided to shower, change, and figured we could start our day! Don't you want to go out and enjoy Tokyo with yours truly?" Kuroo said as he pointed his thumb at himself, pretending to be all high and mighty at that moment. That action had gotten Tsukishima to at least laugh a little.

It wasn't like the boy could really turn Kuroo down, so he sighed a bit and closed his eyes before he opened them to look at Kuroo. "Is it really going to be a fun time if you're falling asleep as we walk around? Actually, sure. Let's go and I can poke you all day to keep you awake in the most uncomfortable places," Tsukki said with a bit of a wink was he walked back into his room to go grab his wallet and phone. He had plans that he wanted to make a reality with Kuroo being this tired.

Tsukki took a step back in his mind. Why did he want to play jokes on a guy he had only known for maybe a total of twelve hours? Maybe creating plans for the boy was just a little too dangerous and he would have to come up with other things to occupy his mind on. Maybe today would just be a day for Kei to focus on his work notes, although this friends would actually kill him for doing so. As he turned around to Kuroo, he looked at the offended look on his face.

This was amusing, for sure. "Now I'm just not going to fall asleep. You won't get the chance to poke me in uncomfortable places," he said as he rose his head and turned it away as if he was actually offended.

As a snort escaped Tsukki once more, he put his phone in his pocket and he started to walk towards the door. "Whatever you say, guy with his shirt on backwards," Tsukishima said as he walked out of the room and he started to walk down the hall to the elevators. He only glanced back to see Kuroo scrambling to turn his shirt around, only to find out that his shirt had been, in fact, on the right way all along, and Kei had just tricked him to turn his shirt around for nothing.

This was going to be fun, Tsukishima thought as he snickered and leaned against the wall. Kuroo came out of the room after shutting the door and he huffed as he walked towards Tsukishima. "Come on, _buttercup_ , or we're not going to get the chance to go do everything," he said as he walked passed Tsukki, who was laughing and had to rub at his eyes under his glasses to get the tears of laughter that had formed there. Really, Kei couldn't remember the last time he had laughed that hard. It was a blessing in disguise, and he was starting to think that maybe this wouldn't be as miserable as he thought it was going to be.

As the pair went to the elevator, Kuroo and Kei looked at one another across the area and Kuroo shook his head. "Just for that, I am going to show you an even better time than you're anticipating. You're going to beg your friends to send you back to me," Kuroo said, as if it was actually a threat. To Tsukki though, it was a threat of sorts. He wasn't going to want to come back to Tokyo any time soon, so that was a challenge that Kei was going to take.

"Fine, you're on," Tsukki said. "What are we doing today, anyway? Taking a nap in the Tokyo tower?" Tsukki asked with a smirk. Kuroo let out a sigh and shook his head.

He did want to know what they were going to be doing, though, just so he could tell his friends and excite them that he was actually doing things out in Tokyo. "Just for that comment, I'm not going to tell you," Kuroo said as they exited the elevator. It was a fair enough response, as Tsukki knew that he could be a bit too sarcastic at times, but Tsukishima let out a sigh as a habit.

Thinking for a moment, Tsukki shook his head at the thought that had started to formulating in his head. He didn't want to know the boy any more than he had to, though, because his idea had been that they really didn't know each other and they should probably sit down and get better acquainted with each other. Get familiar with the other's quirks or dislikes. But Tsukki really didn't want to know any of that, if he was being honest. He was just hoping that this was going to be a better way for the week to be spent.

As they got on the train, which Tsukki smacked Kuroo's hand away when he tried to pay because his friends had given him more than enough spending money, they headed off to somewhere that was apparently outside of Tokyo. That didn't bother Kei, though. Although, it was fun watching Kuroo struggle to stay awake. This was going to be all the amusement he required. When Tsukki had watched as Kuroo started to doze off, he reached his hand over to poke him in the cheek, but the second before it happened, Kuroo grabbed his hand and surprised the blond boy, nearly giving him a heart attack.

"I was just trying to keep you awake. I don't know where we're going or what stop to get off on, so I need you to stay awake," Tsukki defended as Kuroo sighed and sat himself up, letting out a rather large yawn. "We really should have let you sleep. You're not going to make it today," Tsukishima said in a very high and mighty voice, as if he knew that Kuroo wasn't likely to make it through the rest of the day.

A snort escaped Kuroo's lips as he sat back up even straighter. He realized right then that he had still been holding on to Tsukishima's hand and he slowly let it go. It lingered for a second, but then the other boy pulled his hand away. "I'll make it, don't you worry. I'm taking this entire challenge seriously. You'll never want to leave when I'm done with you."

Humming had happened in Kei's throat and he looked over at Kuroo very questioningly. "So you're going to inflict Stockholm syndrome on me. Very nice. I can see what plans you have for me now," Tsukki said with another little giggle. Although, if Kei were being honest with himself, he thought that maybe that wouldn't have been so bad. He had to shoot those thoughts down very quickly, though, because he really didn't want to think about doing anything that would actually be fun with Kuroo, even though he was still giving the boy a fair shot to give him a good time.

The glare and pure steam that was radiating off of Kuroo was actually rather amusing as the boys sat there. "Why are you being so pessimistic about this? I know we just met, but could you at least believe that I'm going to try my best to show you a decent time?"

Finally letting down a tiny bit of his defenses, Kei nodded and sat back in his seat, watching out Kuroo's window where the train was taking them. He had no idea where they were going anyway, so it wasn't like he would get clues from looking out the window.

After the boys had arrived at their stop, Kuroo stood up and instructed Kei to do the same. He led the boy out the train door and the boys walked for a little while, nearly silent as they walked with one another. "Hey, Kuroo, are you going to tell me where we're going now?" Kei asked as they continued to walk. The pace was very slow, since Kuroo was more tired than he should have been.

But it wasn't a minute later that they had passed a sign for what Kuroo was taking Kei to. "You'll find out soon enough anyway, so I'll just tell you, we're going to one of the oldest zoos in Japan. I love all the animals, but I also enjoy all of the history behind the zoo. I figured you might like the history too."

Those words sent chills up Kei's spine. They were going to a zoo? Maybe they really should have sat down and gotten to know each other just a little better. "Do we have to go to the zoo?" Kei asked softly, slowing down his pace tremendously.

"I thought you were giving me a fair shot! Come on, buttercup, we're going to the zoo. It will still be fun, even though we're in our twenties," Kuroo said, just assuming that Kei was in his twenties. He had no idea how old the boy was, but he seemed to be close enough to his age anyway. After a few moments, Kuroo looked over to Kei, who still seemed skeptical about going to the zoo.

The thing was, Kei didn't need to be disappointed once again. He didn't need everything he wanted to get ripped away from him again, and he really just didn't want to have his dreams taken away once more. But if he was going to give Kuroo a real chance here, he would have to go. But his passed memories were starting to haunt him and he had actually stepped a little closer to Kuroo. He could only think about the way his mother smacked him when he was whining about the tigers not being available to view. "Okay, yeah... I guess we can go," Kei said.

If felt like a moment where Kuroo needed to do something to excite the boy, or at least cheer him up a bit. He had no idea why Tsukishima was reacting this way, but Kuroo didn't like it at all. "So what animal do you think I look most like?" Kuroo asked as he started to walk in front of Tsukki, walking backwards so he could get a good look at his face.

Screwing up his face a bit, Tsukki looked over Kuroo for a minute and he hummed. "Maybe a peacock? That might be the closest to your wild hair. But even they are too majestic..." Tsukki said with a straight face.

It took Kuroo a moment to realize that Kei had said, and he gasped, turning around and walking off, getting Tsukishima to laugh. It was a laugh that Kuroo definitely wanted to hear more of this week, and a small and secret smile had come to Kuroo's face. That was a battle he had won, absolutely. Hopefully he could get Buttercup to smile and laugh just a little more this week that they had to spend together. That would be a personal victory.


	3. Chapter 3

Zoos were always very peaceful, and they seemed to give joy to so many people. The zoo that was in question had been Ueno zoo, which was a fantastic zoo, and the price for getting into the zoo was very cheap. Kuroo beat Tsukki to paying for a ticket. It pained Tsukki to have Kuroo paying for this stuff, because really, he had more than enough money to use that his friends had given to him. But it was just Kuroo being a nice guy or something, like the raven had said.

"Do you want to go nap with the pandas over there? I'm sure you'd fit right in," Tsukki taunted as Kuroo took yet another yawn. The pandas were actually very close, but Tsukishima had no idea if they were actually sleeping.

But Kuroo shook his head, stretching just a bit. "I'm good. Fresh air will do me some good anyway. I spend way too much time in that hotel. You have been spending too much time there too, so fresh air will be good for the both of us," Kuroo said as he started to walk over to go grab a zoo map, just wanting to know what they were going to be seeing throughout the day. "Sweet, I want to go see those giraffes. They were awesome the last time I came to show my cousins, anyway. What do you want to go see?" Kuroo asked as he passed the map over to Tsukishima, who felt himself tense up as he took the map. He didn't need to be disappointed again. He didn't need to get his mind all fired up to go see anything if it wasn't open or available at the time.

Shrugging a bit, Tsukishima just shoved the map in his pocket. "Anything is fine, I guess. We can just walk around until we've seen it all, if you want." There was a tone to Tsukishima's voice that gave himself away and he wished he had just played along with Kuroo and picked something he wanted to see. He wished he could shake this feeling of anxiety over possibly being disappointed, but that likely wasn't going to happen.

That was clearly not a good enough answer for Kuroo, though, as he stopped himself in front of Tsukki and he had his hands on his own hips. "You guess that anything is fine? I really don't believe you," he said with a huff as he looked over Tsukishima, who had bit his lip and he looked away. "You're giving me a fair change, remember? You're supposed to be letting me show you a good time, but you're not giving me that chance now. Buttercup, I want you to have a good time while you're in Tokyo. It will be hard if you fight me the entire time. It's going to be more difficult if you don't lighten up. So please, don't fight me on this," Kuroo said.

This was a really hard thing for Tsukki to even begin to bring up, but the zoo was just such a haunting memory for him that he really couldn't wrap his mind around the idea around possibly having a good time. Letting out a sigh, he looked down and he started to kick at the ground. "I have bad memories of the zoo. Not this one in specific, but zoos in general bring up those bad memories. That's why I've been like this..." the blond said as he looked back up to Kuroo.

At the very least, the huffing look had gotten off of his face, and Kuroo had a sad looking frown. "I'm so sorry, Buttercup. I didn't know. But hey, maybe I can rewrite that history for you and give you a better memory about zoos, so you can look at them fondly and think about the time your friendly, Tokyo bartender friend Tetsurou took you to a zoo," Kuroo said with a bit of a wink and his hand splayed over his chest, giving Tsukishima a smile.

Quite possibly, Tsukishima was frozen. There seemed to be nothing that was going to get him to move. Was it possible that Kuroo was actually going to show him a good time at the zoo? Could he actually have good feelings about the zoo after this? It wasn't that he was closed to the idea, but Tsukki wasn't in the habit of making changes in his life, and he wasn't about to start now. He didn't seem to move until Kuroo had shoved his hand into the pocket of Tsukishima's jeans. It made Tsukishima jump and he swatted at Kuroo's arm, but he had gotten what he was looking for. As he pulled out the map, he held it up and moved so Tsukki could see it too. "Okay, so we have... there's lots of animals we can pick from. Tell me what you want to go see, and we can go check those out first."

The anxiety came back as he looked at the map and found the two exhibits he wanted to go see the most the last time he visited a zoo. It was difficult, but Tsukishima had finally pointed a finger at the map, and he had shown Kuroo what he wanted to see. He pointed at the tigers first, and then he moved his finger over to the zebras. "Tigers and Zebras? We can most definitely go check those out, Buttercup. Do you mind if we swing by the owls first?" Kuroo asked softly.

Shrugging a bit, Kuroo frowned a bit. "We don't have to, okay? I want to do what you want to do while you're out here."

"Uh... yeah, we can go see the owls first. But really, maybe we should just... Should we maybe just try to stop by everything? Unless you're too tired to try to do it all," Tsukishima had said and he sounded as sincere as he could possibly sound right then. Really, he was being sincere and he was trying to do his best to give Kuroo a fair shot. He really wasn't sure why he hadn't been giving Kuroo a fair shot. Maybe it was because of the other disappointments he had faced in his life. Maybe it was because he wasn't in the habit of trusting people. To be fair, Tsukki didn't know why he bothered even trying so hard with Kuroo. There was just something about the boy.

A snort had left Kuroo's lips. "You're looking at someone who has stayed awake for 93 hours before finally crashing. I'll be fine," Kuroo said with a wink as he put the map back in his own pocket. "Let's go!" Kuroo said to Tsukki, motioning to the path. Today, the zoo didn't seem to be too terribly busy, although Tsukishima really had no idea how busy it was on a regular basis.

As they walked, the pair stopped by nearly every animal that they could. Kuroo got more than excited for the owls, although he rushed through them, probably because he wanted Tsukki to get the chance to see the tigers. As anxiety ran through him, he realized that it was pointless to be anxious. It was likely going to be another disappointment anyway, so why worry about it?

He joked with Kuroo about seeing a peacock that looked like him again, and the pair laughed about the thought of Kuroo being more graceful. They laughed hard enough that Tsukki had to use Kuroo to lean on as he caught his breath. It was a reluctant thought, but Tsukishima decided that he was actually enjoying the zoo now. His anxieties still weren't all gone yet, but he was starting to realize he should just do his best to have a decent time and stop worrying about what he couldn't control.

Finally, when the lion enclosure came into sight, Tsukki clammed up a bit. It didn't seem like the lions were closed off, but that said nothing about the tigers. They did go check out the lions though, and they let out a bit of a chuckle when one of the lion cubs jumped at seeing their own reflection in the water. It was cute. Finally, though, the boys ventured their way over to the tigers. This was what Tsukishima was waiting for, and what he had wanted all along. As they approached the area, the sign had read 'open' and Tsukki had bit his lip, just hoping that they were able to see at least one tiger.

Apparently, Tsukki was shaking or trembling or _something_ of that nature, because Kuroo had put his arm around Tsukki's shoulder and he had held onto him as they continued to walk. "We'll stay all day just so you can see a tiger, okay?" Kuroo had said with a bit of a smile. That didn't make his arm fall away, but he actually pulled Tsukki a bit closer to him.

Once they had reached the enclosure, they started to look around and they walked a bit, not seeing a tiger in the damned thing. Tsukki let out a sigh, but the sigh was a little early, because that was when Kuroo had laid his eyes on a creature in the enclosure. "Tsukki! Hey look!" Kuroo said in a quiet, excited voice. He pointed to where he was looking and in the distance of the enclosure, Kei laid his eyes on a gorgeous, majestic wild cat, orange and black in color. Gasping a bit, Kei pressed a little closer to the enclosure and watched as the animal's tail flicked.

It wasn't more than ten seconds when the cat had turned and started to walk towards Tsukki and Kuroo's direction, not paying an ounce of attention to them. "Wow... Kuroo, it's an actual tiger..." he said, enamored with the creature that stood in front of him. That was when Kuroo had gasped a bit and pointed to the other side of the enclosure.

There were two more tigers, one that looked young and looked like a teenage cub, and one that looked on the older side like the original cub. Kei covered his gaping mouth, just trying to hide the joy and the excitement all over his face. Kuroo laughed a bit as he kept his arm around Tsukki's shoulders, but Tsukki didn't make a move to pull away from Kuroo when he had left his arm there. He did, on the other hand, take out his phone to take pictures, just so he could show his friends. They would definitely want to see that he had actually had a decent time. Kuroo had convinced him to take a picture of himself with the tigers in the back on his phone, and Kei did the same on his own phone. He wasn't going to take pictures with Kuroo in it at first, but really, he did want to remember all of this.

When the tigers had started to retreat, Tsukki turned his head to look at Kuroo, who was smiling a ridiculously wide smile at the moment. "See, you were worried I wouldn't show you a good time," he said, but the smile was far too innocent to pair up with the sarcastic comment that came out of his mouth. Maybe this was just how Kuroo was, though. It didn't dawn on Tsukki that Kuroo was smiling because of seeing Tsukki's reaction, though.

"Yeah, yeah. I just like tigers, okay?" Tsukishima said with a roll of his eyes. He pulled away from Kuroo at that, but Kuroo let out another laugh as the boys continued to walk, going to go check out the rest of the zoo. There were a lot of cool signs that talked about the zoo's history and there were just so many cool creatures to see. They started to hit each other like the sea lions and they stopped for lunch at one of the zoo's restaurants. It was starting to turn out to be a very good trip to the zoo.

They had finished lunch, and Tsukki wasn't even thinking about being disappointed about the zebras any further. At some point, which neither of them could remember how it happened, they had started to hold hands as they walked through the zoo. But neither of them seemed to complain about this fact, as they continued to hold onto each other's hand without pulling away.

Maybe this was dangerous. Maybe they really shouldn't be getting so close. But honestly, Tsukishima didn't care. He was going to have a good time regardless, and he didn't care how wrong any of this was. As they approached the zebra enclosure, the thought of being disappointed was far out of Tsukishima's mind as they approached everything. It was good that the zebras were there, and they seemed to behave just like Tsukki would have imagined. He still snapped pictures and he took one of himself with Kuroo, pointing to the zebras behind them on Kuroo's phone.

The day was winding down, as they had seen everything there was to see, and they decided to head back. Kuroo made them stop in the gift shop, though, and Tsukki just waited by the door, shaking his head at all of the ridiculous things that Kuroo was pulling out. Tsukki didn't pay any attention to what Kuroo had bought and he was just happy to get out of there once he had the bag in hand. The bag was rather stuffed and it made Tsukki wondered what the boy had bought, but he decided not to worry about it.

As they got on the train, Tsukki took the window seat this time and Kuroo took a seat next to him. It wasn't until the train had pulled away that the raven had started to look into the bag. Tsukki was busy looking out the window, which was why he wasn't expecting something to be put into his head and tugged to be adjusted. His eyes closed as Kuroo let out a bit of a laugh and he went back to the bag. What was on [Tsukki's head](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41q-MgdlX0L.jpg)? Why was it so soft and warm?

Slowly, Tsukishima opened his eyes and he reached onto his head. Clearly, it was some sort of soft hat. But what was it? He didn't want a dumb gorilla to be on his head. That was when he had followed something down from the hat, which was attached to the sides of the hat. He pulled it out into his view and he blinked, wondering just what Kuroo was thinking. The pattern was a tiger pattern, and it seemed to have mittens on the end that mimicked the likes of tiger paws. As he started to feel the top of the hat a little more, he realized there was a tiger nose and tiger ears as well.

Letting out a sigh, Tsukishima closed his eyes again. "It's a children's hat, isn't it?" he asked as he looked over to Kuroo, who was adjusting something that looked like a long-ass [mullet](http://www.cyclingwanganui.org.nz/images/VbYx2y49frvi/Excellent-halloween-hats-zebra-mane-2O8Q_1.jpg). Tsukki had to do everything in his power not to snort at what he was seeing in front of him. What the hell was Kuroo wearing? "Kuroo... is your hair okay?" Tsukki asked with a bit of a laugh, trying his hardest to keep it all inside. But Kuroo just looked so damned ridiculous right now, so it was very difficult to hold back how he was feeling about all of this.

Kuroo had leaned back into his chair and he was sporting a look of horror. "This zebra mane gives my hair too much personality. Definitely more than even I have," Kuroo said, looking over to Tsukishima. The blond had let out a bit of a snort again, reaching to pet the mane of fake zebra fur. Kuroo slowly began to smile at that, and the boy was finally smiling fully by the time they reached their stop.

As they got off the train, bringing everything along with them that they had brought from the zoo, the boys walked slowly back to the hotel. Once again, the two boys had fallen into holding hands, and they were just more than comfortable like this. It was an odd feeling, since really, Tsukishima hadn't really had too much experience with hand holding as of late. Sure, he had a little bit, but it wasn't much and it definitely wasn't too recent.

The two boys made it back into the hotel and Kuroo took Tsukki up to his room, humming a bit. "So I'm starting to feel how exhausted I am. I think I might actually go sleep this time, but can I expect to see you down at the bar later?"

Hearing Kuroo say that, it actually gave him a ping of emotion inside of him, one that he couldn't exactly put a finger on. It was disappointment, probably, but he really just couldn't describe it at that moment. "Sure, you can see me down there. Or... you could just... nap here?" The confidence inside of Tsukki was very surprising and he really wasn't sure where such a bold proposition had come from. It surprised him and gave him a little bit of a fright. What was it about Kuroo that made him want to keep the raven around?

That was when Kuroo seemed to have to do a double take. His ridiculous hair of a fake zebra mane had slipped and fallen onto the ground, but Kuroo wasn't exactly worried about that at the moment. It seemed like Kuroo was looking Tsukishima up and down, trying to figure him out. It was as if Tsukki was playing some sort of game. "Are you sure you really want me around? I'm just going to nap, you know..." Kuroo said, biting his lip and staring into Tsukishima's eyes. There was so much innocence behind those eyes, and Tsukki chalked it up to Kuroo being as tired as he was.

Nodding slowly, Tsukishima reached to his room key and he swiped the key so he could get into his room. "I'm sure. I can just... listen to music, or watch some silly day time television drama, and you can rest," Tsukki had said as he pushed open the door. He walked into the room slowly, holding the door open for Kuroo to follow in behind him. There was no way that anything other than napping was going to happen, anyway. Tsukki could just see how tired Kuroo was. He might claim to have stayed awake for 93 hours at one point, but he looked thoroughly exhausted.

It didn't take Kuroo that long to follow Tsukki into the room, but he seemed to just stand in the doorway, looking at Tsukki. "Thank you, Buttercup. These beds are more comfortable than the ones they give us to nap on, too. I kind of... sleep better when I know that someone is in the room with me," Kuroo said with a sheepish smile. That admittance seemed to be a tad bit too pure, and far too honest for Tsukishima to take all that seriously. But smiling in return, Tsukishima had motioned to the bed.

Kuroo took off his shoes by the door and ventured into the room. "What... which side of the bed do you sleep on?" Kuroo asked as he rubbed at his eyes, looking down at and longing for the bed that was in front of him.

Humming, Tsukishima pointed to the left side of the bed and he then looked back at Kuroo, who looked like was about to fall asleep just standing there. Was there no end to just how precious Kuroo was going to look. Kei usually wouldn't focus on looks like this, but in all honesty, he really couldn't help but notice just how attractive the hotel employee really was. Now that he was tired like this, Tsukki could see just how purely adorable he was being. "I can sleep on either side, though, so don't worry about me," Tsukki said, kicking off his own shoes and moving them over by the door.

When he turned back around to look at Kuroo and the bed, he watched as Kuroo climbed into the right side of the bed and he pulled the covers over himself, "Do you mind if I take off my jeans? They're not the most comfortable to sleep in," Kuroo said with a yawn.

Letting out a bit of a chuckle, Tsukishima shook his head to signal that Kuroo was fine to take off his jeans. Kei was going to do the same, and he did so as he stood there, as his jeans really were a bit uncomfortable as well. They were comfortable enough to walk around in, but he hated laying down in his jeans and falling asleep in them. He had done so before, when work had kept him up all night and he was too lazy to go change his jeans for any reason.

Kuroo seemed to get comfortable and he kicked his jeans off of the side of the bed, rolling onto his stomach and then looking over at Tsukishima. "Are you going to lay down with me, Buttercup?" Kuroo asked. The innocence to his voice was just far too pure for Tsukki to handle right now, but he have a soft smile as he climbed into the bed next to Kuroo.

There was no way that Tsukki was going to leave Kuroo alone right this very moment. Kuroo would have to do something very extreme for Tsukki to not lay down next to him. "I'm right here, Kuroo. Get some rest, okay? I want you rested so you can show me more of Tokyo, that you seem to want me to go see so bad," Kei said with a smirk as he rolled onto his side and looked over to Kuroo.

Right then, Kuroo had reached for Tsukki's hand and he held onto it, smiling such an innocent smile. It was far too cute to be seeing Kuroo like this. It seemed to be only moments later that Kuroo had passed out, his face turned to Tsukki. His eyes were closed and there was a feeling of warmth taking over Tsukishima's chest right then. Maybe there was a bit of longing there, too. Tsukki really didn't know, but he knew that he was getting dangerously close to wanting more of Kuroo.

Surprisingly enough, Tsukishima had fallen asleep too. It wasn't that he had been tired, it wasn't that he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, but there was just something about seeing a soft, sleeping Kuroo that caused him to pass out himself. When he woke up, he had realized that Kuroo had shifted to lay closer to him, and his face was nuzzled into Kei's arm. How precious could this really get? As Kei sat up, as he slowly pulled his arm away from Kuroo, it caused Kuroo to groan and it made Kei worry that he had woken the boy up. "Butter... cu..." Kuroo had murmured, but Kei could tell that it was Kuroo just talking in his sleep.

After another twenty minutes or so, Kuroo had finally woken up. He was only asleep for maybe three hours total, but the boy had woken up, reaching out for Tsukishima, who was no longer in bed next to him. "Buttercup, where did you go?" Kuroo asked with a bit of a whine to his voice. Kuroo rolled onto his back and he rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes.

"I was in the bathroom. I'm still here," Kei said as he walked from the bathroom and he stretched a bit. Then he started scratching at his stomach that Kuroo had begun to stare at. Tsukki no longer had a shirt on and was only in his boxers. That wasn't going to be a tease or hard to be around, not at all. "How was your nap?" Tsukki asked, coming to sit on the bed without laying down.

There was a strangled noise that came out of Kuroo's mouth, and as smart as Tsukishima was, he had absolutely no idea that it was from the fact that he was shirtless at that moment. "It was... good. Thank you for letting me nap here. I feel better now. What time is it?" Kuroo asked, but his mind was clearly not on what time it was. His mind was thinking about how beautiful Tsukishima was underneath his clothing. Kuroo was having a hard time focusing on anything else, particularly because Kei wasn't wearing anything else at the moment other than just a pair of boxers. They were green and they had cartoon dinosaurs on them, which was actually very peculiar, saying that Tsukki was usually on the more serious side of things.

Letting out a yawn, Kuroo kept looking at the boxers. "What's with the boxers, Buttercup?" Kuroo asked with a bit of a smirk as he pushed the blankets off himself, revealing that he was wearing a pair of red and black striped boxers himself. But the green boxers with cartoon dinosaurs on the fabric was absolutely too childish for Tsukishima to be wearing. Weren't they?

That was when a very small, very bashful blush had come to Tsukishima's face. "Oh... Uh, well... if you must know, I really like dinosaurs. I still adore them, but with work, I don't get the chance to focus on them as much anymore. I still keep this kind of stuff though. I can't make myself get rid of it all," the blond said as he looked away, down to the ground again.

Embarrassment was just a plus to all of this right now, but Kuroo hadn't intended on embarrassing the boy. "Well hey, that's alright. I have a thing for blowing shit up with chemicals. I love chemistry. We all have our own things," Kuroo said as he pushed himself up and off of the bed, stretching himself out. "We should play a game to get to know each other a little better, since I'm going to be spending the next six days with you, Buttercup," Kuroo offered. "I can go grab a bottle of vodka or whiskey from the bar and we can make it into a drinking game? We should also order food in. There's a ramen shop down the road that will deliver here. You game?" Kuroo asked as he pulled on his jeans and he seemed to be rather eager to play a game with Tsukki.

Thinking for a minute, Tsukki really wasn't too sure that he wanted to play a game to get to know Kuroo more. He was already getting dangerously close to the boy and he wasn't sure how close he really wanted to get. "We can... play the game if it's nothing too personal. Like nothing about where I live, what school I went to, any of that. I'm game otherwise, though. And ramen sound good. We can order it in," Kei said as he stood up from the bed too, wondering if Kuroo wanted company down to the bar. But Kuroo was gone before he knew it.

What in the world was Tsukki getting himself into?

It didn't take more than a few minutes for Kuroo to come back with a shit ton of alcohol, definitely more than they would need, probably. The six bottles he was balancing in his arm had fallen onto the bed with a thud, and the boy set the bar glasses on the nightstand. This was surely going to be interesting. Tsukki couldn't see a way that it wouldn't be interesting, unless the two boys struggled to come up with a game or something. "Okay, so I know what I want. Have any idea what kind of ramen you want? They can probably do anything you can think of," Kuroo said as he looked over to Tsukishima, who had taken to sitting on the chair in the room.

Thinking for a bit, Tsukishima hummed as he tried to decide what he wanted. "Lots of veggies, maybe some... shrimp? I don't care what kind of broth, really."

That was when Kuroo started to type into his phone, tapping away at the screen. "Chicken broth it is. I've added all of the vegetables and extra for the side. And then we have dumplings coming, and... oh look, they've got sweet rolls back. I'll order some. You've got to try them, they are to die for," Kuroo said as he continued to tap at his phone. The boy was probably ordering online, and Tsukki sighed as he watched Kuroo pull out a credit card of some sort.

"Kuroo, please stop... I can't stand the idea of you paying for everything this weekend..." Tsukishima said, but that didn't stop Kuroo from trying to add his card number into the online ordering thing.

When Tsukki came over and tried to hand him his own credit card, Kuroo looked up and smiled. "I've got it, Buttercup. You're all good," he said as he put his phone on the bed. That was when Kuroo started to strip off his pants again, as Tsukki was only wearing his boxers still. He had, though, decided to put on a long sleeved shirt, which was a bit disappointing to Kuroo. But he didn't like that put him in a bad mood. "So I say, we play two truths and a lie. What do you say?" Kuroo suggested as he stood back up, after he had sat down to put in the order. He went to go grab the drinking glasses and he brought over a bottle of whiskey, and then a bottle of bourbon. This was going to turn out very bad.

Taking a breath, Tsukki sat down as Kuroo was sitting down with the bottles of alcohol and the glasses in his hand. The two boys looked at one another, and Tsukki let out his breath. "How would we turn it into a drinking game?" Tsukki asked, although he was sure it was probably more straight forward than he was thinking.

It was a chuckle that came out of Kuroo's mouth as he was pouring his own glass of bourbon. He then poured Tsukki his whiskey, and he recapped the top. "Well, here's how I'm seeing it. When you go, if I guess the lie incorrectly, I have to drink. But if I guess correctly, you have to drink. Sound fair?" Kuroo asked as he leaned a little closer to Tsukishima.

Bending back a bit, Tsukki figured it wouldn't be all that bad. There was no reason not to, was there? He nodded and Kuroo let out a bit of a cheer before he looked over Kei. "I'll go first, yeah? Okay, so, let me see... I've been to Italy and spent a night in jail there. I've been in four different relationships with a guys all named Reo, and I am taking a break from school this semester, but I am trying to become a science school teacher."

There was no tell in Kuroo's voice as he spoke, and he made no type of give away motion when he spoke, so Tsukki was pretty screwed. "Uhh.. is the lie the Italy thing?" Tsukki asked.

It was the smirk at the end, one that Tsukki couldn't tell if he loved or he hated. "Nope. I've been in jail overnight in Italy. I was trespassing on a famous person's property and I didn't realize it, so they put me in jail for the night. I am not trying to become a school teacher, though. I'm working on a degree in biomedical engineering," Kuroo said with a wink. Sighing, Tsukki took a sip of his drink, and a big enough one to get Kuroo to think it was a decent sip.

What in the world was Tsukki going to say? This game had his stomach in knots already, but he agreed to play it. "Alright, I think I'm good," Tsukishima said as he put on a straight face. He didn't want to give away what his lie was, so he had to make this really good. He wanted Kuroo to have to take a drink too. "I haven't been in a relationship for more than two years, I saw Jurassic world five times when it was released, all in theaters, and my favorite color is purple, as you can tell by my purple suit case."

Humming, Kuroo looked over to make sure the suit case was actually purple. "Your favorite color isn't purple, can it be?" Kuroo asked. "Is that the lie?"

Smirking and motioning for Kuroo to take a drink, Kuroo sighed as he reached for his glass. "Yes, my favorite color is purple, I haven't been in a relationship for more than two years now. The lie was the Jurassic world. I saw it _seven_ times in theaters. I own the movie, too," Tsukishima said with a bit of a laugh. Kuroo took a drink, and he shook his head. If Kuroo was going to play dirty and only change one little think about the truth to make it a lie, Tsukishima would do the same thing.

It didn't take Kuroo long to think of his next set of facts. "Okay, let's see if you get this one. I tried to be a firefighter when I got out of high school, my sister lives in America right now, and I was the captain of my school volleyball team." Kuroo smirked at the end and he watched Tsukki a little too closely.

This was dangerous, but Tsukki really wasn't too sure. He knew he would have to choose, though. "Your sister isn't in America. I don't think you even have a sister," Tsukki said with a raised eyebrow.

The look of surprise on Kuroo's face got him to gasp and let out a whine. "I thought that was a good one!" Kuroo said as he took another drink, and Tsukishima let out a laugh, leaning in a little closer to Kuroo at that point. "Okay, let me guess!"

After taking his time to laugh and breathing, Tsukki hummed just a little bit. "Okay, let me see... My birthday is November tenth, I have an older brother who I never see anymore, and I'm afraid of losing my friends after this, even after I actually went out and did something today."

The last one seemed too real for Kuroo, so he thought for a second. "I bet you don't have an older brother. Older sister, right?" Kuroo asked as he rose an eyebrow.

Snorting, Kei laughed and motioned to Kuroo's drink again. Kuroo gawked and took his drink before setting his glass down. "So what, your birthday isn't in November?"

"Nah, it's in September. Nice try though. I do have an older brother, but I hardly get to see him anymore because he is always away on business trips and I work too hard when he is in town," Tsukki said as he looked at Kuroo with a smirk. "The last fact was too obvious. I should have thought of something else," Tsukishima said.

The game continued until their food came, and then they continued after they ate, just like they had been. It got to he point that they had actually finished their respective bottles of alcohol and were nearly rolling on the floor, laughing their asses off. After they decided to call it quits, they were both laying on the floor, and the boys were laying on their sides, facing one another, their bodies pointing in opposite directions. At this point, both of the boys were likely drunk and were doing everything they could just to focus on one another. "So, how am I doing with not letting you waste this vacation, huh? Am I doing okay now?" There was a smile on Kuroo's face, but it seemed to be far too pure for the truths and lies they had come up with.

Tsukishima knew far too much about Kuroo now, and he was letting Kuroo see who he was as a person. He actually told Kuroo which part of Japan he lived in, which he had promised to himself that he wasn't going to do. He hadn't given much more personal information, but he had told him that much. "I guess you're doing okay. You have six more days to impress me with, though," Tsukki said.

It was then that Kuroo had moved closer, and their faces were close enough now that they could feel the tickle of each other's breath on their noses. It was an odd sensation to feel, but it was also rather nice, if Tsukishima had to say so. "I have other things planned for you, Buttercup. I made a deal with you. I'm not going to let you waste the rest of this vacation. Speaking of not wasting time, though..."

Surprise hit Tsukishima when he felt Kuroo push Tsukki on his back, and he was suddenly hovering over his head, a very small smile on his lips. The raven had leaned down and he had ghosted his lips over Tsukishima's own, waiting for Tsukishima to pull away. But that was the thing. Tsukishima didn't want to pull away. In his mind, he knew that this was beyond dangerous, and he knew that he was likely to regret it, but what was the harm in having a fun, romantic fling while he was on vacation?

When Tsukki didn't pull away, Kuroo pressed down and attached their lips. It was a bit of an awkward kiss, as they were kissing in an upside down fashion, but it didn't mean that the kiss didn't take Tsukishima's breath away. The speed of the kiss was perfect for the mood, it sparked electricity between the two of them, and the way Kuroo's hand found Tsukishima's hair and started to massage at his head, it was a kiss that was hotter than hell. 

Feeling the way Kuroo's mouth had started to widen a bit, and just the way his tongue started to ask for entrance into Tsukishima's mouth, Tsukishima didn't dare deny him. It was already an incredible kiss, so why would Tsukki want to stop it at that when it could become even more amazing? Really, Tsukishima was glad that he had. Sure, Kuroo tasted like ramen and alcohol, but the way his tongue wrapped around and danced with Tsukishima's own tongue, and then he conned Tsukki's tongue into his own mouth, Tsukki didn't care how Kuroo tasted. He was sure that he tasted about the same. They didn't break the kiss apart for quite some time, and neither of them wanted to break the kiss. They didn't even seem to care that neither of them could breathe. But finally, they realized that breathing was essential to life. They wished it didn't have to be, but it was.

Finally, Kuroo pulled away, and he rolled onto his side again, looking Tsukki over a bit. The blush on Tsukki's face had to be obvious, and the look on his face told Kuroo that he was probably speechless. "So, there's more where that came from, if you'd like it," Kuroo said with a wink. It got Tsukishima to look at him with the same dumbfounded look on his face.

How was Kei supposed to reply to that? How was he supposed to tell Kuroo that he wanted more kisses just like that? Sighing, Tsukki finally brought himself back into reality and he realized that this was such a damned dangerous game to be playing. "I wasn't expecting that..." Kei said as he licked at his lips, pressing his own lips together and savoring the feeling that Kuroo had left on his lips. "Maybe we should wait until the alcohol wears off before we decide to do more... This could just be our inebriated brains talking..." Tsukishima said.

Reaching out to poke at Tsukishima's blushing, warm cheek, he let out a bit of a laugh. It was a good thing that Kuroo really wasn't fighting him on any of this, though. It was good that he seemed to agree that they should wait until they weren't as drunk as they were. "You're probably right. I don't want you to forget how good of a time you have with me," Kuroo said with another wink, and this time it was far from innocent. The tone to Kuroo's voice had made him sound like he was up to no good. Or maybe, it was a good thing he was up to, but he sounded very devious.

"Stay here for the night? I don't want you going back home while you're drunk..." Tsukki had said and it seemed to bring a bit of a pout to his lips as he was drunk and not thinking all that well. Even in his drunk state, though, he still didn't want Kuroo to go. But he was able to make an excuse for it, which was a good thing.

As Kuroo cooed and poked again at Tsukki's cheek, he smiled such a soft, happy smile. "I'll stay. You're worried about me, that's cute..." Kuroo said with a bit of a laugh. It was more of a giggle at this rate. "I've never had someone as cute as you worry about me before," Kuroo said.

That had to be a lie, didn't it? There was no way that Tsukishima was the cutest person to ever worry about him. At least, someone that wasn't family. But it made Tsukishima wonder what kind of people he hung around if he didn't have people worrying about him that often. "I've never had someone as gorgeous as you kiss me..." It was the honesty of the statement that was making Tsukishima begin to worry about how close they were beginning to get, and he started to think about his life back at home. It was the truth, he really hadn't had someone as gorgeous as Kuroo kiss him before. It was just a sad truth.

Letting out a sound of joy, Kuroo smiled and he leaned his head onto his elbow. "You flatter me, Buttercup," he said as he reached to touch Tsukki's hand. That was another touch that seemed to send sparks through Tsukishima's body, but it was the tingling, good sparks, so it wasn't anything too concerning to Kei at the moment.

The two boys leaned in to peck at each other's lips again, but they finally decided to get off of the ground and move to the bed. Kuroo turned off the light and the two boys had gotten into their respective sides of the bed. They kissed probably three or four more times before they were both asleep. Neither boy really wanted to wait to get to spend more time together, but they definitely needed sleep to get the alcohol out of their systems.

Maybe, just maybe, Tsukishima's friends had forced him into a vacation that was actually going to be worth it now. Maybe he wouldn't wish the time to be over just yet and he would actually want to stick this out with Kuroo. Either way, he wanted to know what Kuroo was going to do next.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY for the wait on this chapter! I've just been so distracted lately, but here it finally is!

The morning came with a pounding, ear-ringing pain. It must have been all of the alcohol the night before, Tsukishima thought. But at the very least, there wasn't nausea or stomach pain to go along with it. There was no nausea for Tsukishima at least, as he had always been blessed with the gift of getting drunk and not having problems with his stomach later on. As he slowly sat up, he rolled off the bed to go to the bathroom.

Groaning and scratching his stomach through his shirt, he remembered right then that his friends forced him to bring medications with him, which he was beyond thankful for at the moment with the headache he was experiencing. So before he walked any further into the bathroom, he went to his toiletries bag and pulled out the bottle of pain killers, giving it a shake to make sure there were actually pills in the bottle. It wouldn't be the first time he had held onto an empty bottle and was surprised there weren't any pills in the container, so he just had to be sure.

As he walked slowly further into the bathroom, he made a bit of a face at the smell. Had they really been dumb enough to make a mess in the bathroom? Were they that drunk last night that they took their fun to the bathroom too? It certainly smelled that way. Tsukki rubbed at his face and hoped he would be in and out. At the moment, he couldn't remember taking their shenanigans to the bathroom too, so he was wondering just what the smell was. But honestly, he wasn't sure that he would have let Kuroo convince him to move their fun into the bathroom. It just didn't sound like him.

That was when his foot ran into something on the floor and he nearly stumbled. He caught himself on the wall and looked down to see a sleeping Kuroo, who was lying on the bathroom tiles. Well, that was certainly the best place in the world to be sleeping, Tsukishima was sure of it. Letting out a scoff, he nudged his sock-less toes against Kuroo's shoulder, who grumbled and turned his head. "No..." Tsukki heard Kuroo say, and he swatted at Tsukki's foot a moment later. He missed, but he tried anyway. Clearly, he was too tired to care at the moment.

Raising an eyebrow and smirking just a little bit, Tsukki stepped over Kuroo and went towards the toilet. What a gem, Tsukishima thought as he chuckled and snickered to himself. As he made it to the toilet, he looked down to start his business. But that was a mistake, as the sight he met in the toilet was not a pretty one, and Tsukki turned his head as he held his breath. That had to be where the smell was coming from. Kuroo had vomited in the toilet and had neglected to flush it. "Oh, yeah... I didn't flush... Oops..."

It had to be about the most disgusting smell and sight, but Tsukishima was glad that he had a strong stomach and didn't gag very easily to smells. Hell, he didn't feel sick after all of the alcohol last night, so he could handle this. Waiting for the toilet to finish flushing, Tsukki turned to look down at Kuroo, who was still just laying on the floor.

Maybe it was the fact that Kuroo was nearly dead on the bathroom floor, but he didn't feel like giving the man shit for not flushing the toilet. It was something he would have normally given someone shit about, but this morning was a different story. "So. Tell me. If you really planned on making my time worth it while I was out here, how are you going to manage to make it through today after vomiting?" Tsukishima asked before turning back to the toilet that was done flushing. He started to relieve himself, and he was getting rather interested to know just how Kuroo planned on keeping him entertained through today with the hangover he clearly had.

Flushing the toilet once more, Tsukishima turned around to see that Kuroo was pushing himself up. "I'll manage. Don't you worry your gorgeous head. I'm a man of steel. Don't you know?" Kuroo said as he sat up and stretched himself a bit more. "I'm not going to abandon this challenge. You're going to be wishing to stay by the time I'm done with you." A wink cheekily escaped from Kuroo's eye and he kept his eyes on Tsukki. He eyed his boxers once more and Tsukki felt the heat beginning to rise to his neck and face when Kuroo smirked. "Dinosaurs... How cute..." he murmured as he shook his head.

Tsukishima didn't have to take this. He certainly didn't have to listen to the lies that Kuroo had been sprouting, as he definitely wasn't a man of steel, not after vomiting the way he had. He groaned to himself as he stepped over Kuroo and went back to the main space. "I want to shower. Please be out of the bathroom soon," he said as he went to go grab clothing for today. He could only hope that Kuroo would in fact be out of the bathroom in a little while.

It was an honest surprise when Tsukishima turned around with what clothing he had picked out for the day, to see Kuroo standing behind him. He wasn't necessarily close enough to be considered inside Tsukishima's bubble of space, but he was close enough that he could reach out and touch Kuroo if he wanted to. "You know, we could pick up where we left off last night," Kuroo said teasingly and in a bit of a hum as he stepped a bit closer to Tsukishima. _Now_ he was in Tsukki's bubble, but he really wasn't too uncomfortable with it either.

The idea Kuroo had given wasn't the worst idea in the world at the moment and Tsukishima was about to lean in to attach his lips to Kuroo's again, since he was craving more of his loving and the beautiful affection that Kuroo seemed to be willingly giving out. But then he froze and took a step back, realizing that it actually was the worst idea in the world. He was just glad that he caught this at the right moment. "Not until you brush your teeth. I do not need to taste the horrors of your mouth right now," Kei said with a wince, before he stepped around Kuroo and went to go into the bathroom to start his shower.

A groan escaped Kuroo's mouth and he decided to go and leave the room, hopefully grabbing a toothbrush and getting rid of the horrible vomit taste from his mouth. Tsukishima was just glad that Kuroo could do this and he would have gladly kissed Kuroo when he had a fresh and clean mouth, not one that he had just vomited from.

Too wrapped up in the hot water that was spraying against his spine, Tsukki started to hum one of his favorite classic songs. It was a classic rock song that he adored, and he could only thank the heavens that the world had graced everyone with the likes of bands like Queen and ACDC. He didn't realize that Kuroo had snuck inside the bathroom to brush his teeth, and he didn't realize that he was humming loud enough for Kuroo to hear him. If anything, he would have kept quiet if he knew that Kuroo could hear him. He was pretty sure that his humming and quiet singing was nothing spectacular.

Kuroo had definitely made sure he was out of the bathroom before Tsukishima had gotten out of the shower, and Tsukki was surprised that Kuroo had left his room as he came out of the bathroom, only clad in a towel around his waste.That was a bit of a disappointment if Tsukki was really being honest to himself, although Tsukki really didn't know why he was feeling this way. Maybe it was just the excitement of having a vacation romance out of romance novels and romantic movies, if this could be considered something of the sort But Tsukishima wasn't sure he really cared for this feeling he was getting. He certainly didn't care for being upset that Kuroo might not be able to keep himself together in order to spend time with him. If he had vomited once, Tsukishima wasn't very hopeful that he wouldn't vomit again during their trip out to the city today.

That was when it dawned on Tsukki though. Kuroo never mentioned that he had today off, did he? Sure, he mentioned yesterday, but Kei really couldn't remember if Kuroo had mentioned today. It would be a complete and total bummer if Kuroo couldn't spend time with him today.

When Tsukishima ran his towel over his head and finished getting changed, he threw himself back into the bed. He wondered if someone else was going to come change the bed today, particularly because the smell of sweat and alcohol was strong in the sheets right then. Although, there was still the musky smell of Kuroo and Tsukishima was wondering in his subconscious, far back mind, why he was moving closer to that smell. It wasn't like it was even a very good smell. It had the scent of animals from the zoo yesterday, so it wasn't like it was a great smell. But Tsukishima still found himself craving more of the smell underneath the animal smells.

Even if it was his subconscious mind being attracted to the smell, he remembered that he had told the hotel that there was no need to change his bedding every day.

It seemed like Kuroo wasn't gone for more than a few minutes, but he was obviously gone long enough to have showered and to have changed his clothes. Maybe Tsukishima was just in the shower longer than he thought he was. That was when Tsukki wondered where Kuroo had gotten the clothing, but he didn't need to dwell on the details. Probably just an extra outfit he kept at the hotel just in case, as Tsukki recalled that Kuroo worked a ton of split shifts.

Slowly sitting up, Tsukki looked Kuroo over to just blink at what the boy was wearing. It was quite the sight, and Tsukishima was rather speechless right at that moment just because of what Kuroo was wearing. Kuroo was clad in a lilac v-neck tee, a half-sleeved sweater with the same color purple meshed into the wild pattern that was more than enough to distract him from black bandana that was tied around his head and settling on his forehead, even though those ridiculous bangs were sill hanging in his eyes and it did nothing to cover the fact that he still had ridiculous bed head. It was still wet, but still standing up as well. Tsukki's eyes traveled down Kuroo's black, tight as all get out jeans, and he swallowed as he looked up to Kuroo's eyes, who weren't focused on Tsukki right at that moment.

"Thanks man. I owe you, definitely. I can cover one of your shifts next week some time if you want me to or any other time if you need it. Just a little busy this week... Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm never busy," Kuroo said with a little laugh. Hearing that statement from Kuroo made Tsukishima a little more curious, but he didn't want to dwell on this whole thing and get his hopes up for nothing. Although, it sounded like Kuroo had just gotten someone to cover a shift of his.

As Kuroo hung up, Tsukishima licked his lips and opened his mouth to breathe in before he went to speak. "So, do you have to work tonight, or are you going to show me another wild adventure in Tokyo?" Tsukki asked. The tone to his voice screamed that he was more accepting of this, and Kuroo could clearly tell. There was no fighting or bickering tone to his voice. Maybe he really did actually want this?

With a smirk, Kuroo came closer to Tsukishima and he settled down on the bed, tilting his head a bit. "Oh? Someone wants to see more wild adventures with yours truly?" Kuroo asked, putting his hand on his chest and grinning just a little bit more. This was going to be beyond frustrating, particularly if Kuroo kept up this shenanigan of pretending to be Tsukishima's savior. But honestly, it was rather endearing that Kuroo thought so highly of himself. It would be annoying if the situation was different, or if Tsukishima actually knew Kuroo, but it was rather cute right in that moment.

But the truth of the matter was, Tsukishima was grateful that he had Kuroo to show him around Tokyo now that he had already been here a week. Where was Kuroo when Tsukki had been going insane during the first week of this ridiculous vacation? _Right at the bar, you idiot._ Tsukishima's mind was plaguing him at the moment, and he wasn't likely to get a chance to forget that he could have gotten Kuroo to spend even longer with him. But what could he do about it now?

Shaking his head away from the thought of how good Kuroo looked in his black jeans and the ridiculous bandana on his head, Tsukishima cleared his throat. "I just don't want to be disappointed, since I do have to be here for another week. So maybe I really am hoping for you to show me a good time now. I'm only becoming a little less skeptical." Tsukishima turned his eyes away from Kuroo, who hummed and he leaned back against the bed, holding himself up with his elbows.

It took a moment, but Kuroo ticked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Huh. Well I suppose we should go then, huh? Oh, hey! I... know you don't want to give away anything too personal, but I need to know. Do you live in a country part of Japan, or are you in a bigger city?" Kuroo asked as he looked over to Tsukishima.

This couldn't be good. Tsukishima really wasn't fond of giving away personal information to someone who he was going to leave. It wasn't that he was afraid of Kuroo stalking him or anything of the sort, but he was just very against the prospect of the two of them knowing more about each other than they needed to know. But what was the harm of telling Kuroo that he definitely was not from a big city? There were multiple suburbs and country towns in Japan. "I'm in a suburb. When I go back home, I mean," Tsukki said, his eyes back on how ridiculous it looked to see Kuroo's hair tangled in the band. But really, it was a nice look. Tsukishima couldn't exactly explain it. It pulled his whole outfit together, really. The ridiculous cardigan was starting to look nicer on Kuroo, too. Tsukki had to wonder if this was part of Kuroo's charm.

Smiling, Kuroo sat back up. This was definitely not a good thing, and the look on Kuroo's face screamed devious. "Good. I know what we're going to do first then. And then I know what we'll do after," Kuroo said as he winked to Tsukishima. His feelings couldn't even begin to explain how dangerous this was and just what that little wink did to his heart. Tsukki didn't need to get more attached, but at the moment, he really just couldn't care. He wanted to enjoy the pointless vacation his friends sent him on now. He didn't care if he made a point to them and made them hate him for not doing anything on the vacation now. He wasn't going to just do nothing now that he had Kuroo around. All he cared about was spending more time with the raven-haired boy and getting the most out of the little time they had together.

Such a terrible thought to be having about a man he was going to be leaving soon.

As Tsukishima started to stand up, Kuroo pushed himself up to sit up as well and he looked Tsukki over. "We should... probably get a start on all of that, then," Tsukki said softly as he gave a very small, but very genuine smile to Kuroo. There was no telling why Tsukki was feeling this way, but it was there, and Tsukishima didn't care to discover why at the moment.

Once Kuroo had finally stood up, he took Tsukishima's hand and started to walk towards the door. "Let's go, Buttercup."

Out the door they went...

\---

To say that the next three days were only 'kind of okay' would have been a massively confused statement, or one hell of an understatement that someone would have to be blind and emotionless to have to say.

But, to Tsukishima, he was already pretty useless without his glasses, and he was rather emotionless at the moment as it was. So he could be considered blind, and he was definitely numb when it came to things that were meant to be good. Although, he was starting to feel more and more emotions with the way Kuroo was treating him, and the safety net he had of numbness was starting to rip.

That second day they spent time together, the boys had gone to go see the Tokyo tower. Tsukishima wasn't exactly excited to see it as it was such an overrated thing to begin with, but it was still an exciting experience all in all. He took photos, he wrote things in his notes to tell his friends which he was sure they hadn't heard before, and he watched as kids and preteens excitedly made their way through the tower, which kind of made Tsukki feel like an old man, which he definitely was not.

Tsukki had read through a lot of the hanging descriptions that tower had, which was informative and the way he liked to spend his time usually. Maybe this wasn't such a waste, especially with Tsukki seeing Kuroo, and he laughed at how Kuroo was still impressed by the tower when he had been to the tower three or four times in the last five years.

They spent time in the Guiness World record area, where Tsukki was sad to leave, as it had to be his favorite part of the tower. They also spent time in the Aquarium Gallery. It was a nice trip, and maybe Tsukki was just unfairly judging said experience based on the things he had heard.

After the Tokyo tower, they went shopping in the Akihabara shopping district regardless of the merchandise they had already bought from the tower, and Kuroo took Tsukishima to an actual restaurant, rather than just eating delivery and hotel food, or zoo food. They had a delicious cheese fondue to start with, and the rest of the meal was just as delicious with seafood that both the boys loved. 

They went shopping after, and Kuroo had convinced Tsukishima to get a pair of prescription clip on sunglasses that made him 'look like a movie star!' according to Kuroo. They stopped in other shops, picking up more clothing and trinkets for Tsukki to remember his trip by and take home with him no matter how much he protested. It was dumb, but Kuroo had bought Tsukishima a cat charm to put on his keys. He would remember to do so at some point, but his keys were back in his room.

Kuroo had also bought some other things, some of which he gave to Tsukki, others which he just kept for himself. Tsukki didn't see everything Kuroo had bought, but it was what it was. Tsukishima didn't need to dive too far into Kuroo's private life and no matter how much he really wanted to know more, he couldn't let himself go there.

They went back to the hotel that night and once again, Kuroo had crashed in Tsukishima's bed. It was starting to become a thing for the boys, and neither boy would have it any other way. They should have actually thought about the situation a little more, but they were just too dumb to see it any other way, they both figured.

The following morning, Tsukishima and Kuroo had spent the first few hours in the bar of the hotel, where Tsukki made sure to only drink a little as Kuroo worked. He was scheduled to work, but apparently he had gotten someone else to cover the second half of his shift so he could spend more time showing Tsukki all around Tokyo. Kuroo had told Tsukishima not to waste all day in the bar though while Kuroo worked, so Tsukishima did go back to his room and he jumped on a video chat call with Yamaguchi, whom he still considered to be his best friend, regardless of how he was in on the whole plot to make Tsukishima go on this vacation. He had so much to tell them all, but he definitely couldn't get it all in. They had to cut the call short, but not before Tsukki had said 'and there's this man...'

Sure, Tsukki never got to explain about Kuroo and how they met in the video call, but he would just have to wait to tell them when he actually got back home. He was far too excited about Kuroo to not explain him.

After the video call, Tsukki did go back down to the bar. It kind of caused Tsukki's heart to attack him when he watched Kuroo talking to other attractive bar guests, but at least he wasn't giving them affectionate nicknames and he definitely wasn't talking to them the way that he spoke to Tsukki.

The way Kuroo was spending time with Tsukki though had made him feel like he had done this before. Maybe this wasn't the first vacation fling Kuroo had been involved in?

Although, Tsukishima had asked Kuroo awkwardly that night after their trip to go terrorize the streets of Tokyo, just seeing what was close by the hotel. Tsukki had to wonder if Kuroo wasn't up for much adventure after working, so that could have been why they were only exploring the shops and activities close to the hotel.

But Kuroo completely denied ever having done this before when Tsukki asked if this wasn't his first vacation fling. Tsukki had actually believed Kuroo, which might have been a dumb thing to do, but Tsukishima really wasn't in the right frame of mind to argue with him about it and try to trip him up or get the truth. He really was just desperate to get the best out of the rest of this vacation, soaking up as much time with Kuroo as he possibly could. When he first came into this vacation, he just wanted it to be over so he could prove to his friends that it was a dumb idea. Now though, he wanted to show them that he had actually had a good time and it wasn't really a dumb idea.

They had gone to see some show the night after, which was a comedic show that involved three guys doing stupid shit on stage, and they were making jokes the whole way through. The two boys really enjoyed watching the show, and they even laughed about it after the fact in a Neko cafe that Kuroo had dragged Tsukki inside of afterwards.

There really was a feeling building between the two boys. Possibly, spending all of this time hearing each other's laughter was causing the feeling. It was really something else, and for Tsukki, it was just a longing to get to enjoy the musical, twinkling laugh that Kuroo had for as long as he could. There was just something about it. While others would probably raise their eyebrows and make faces at his laugh, thinking it was odd, or just too much, Tsukki really thought quite the opposite. It made him laugh and smile, but just because of how sweet the laugh had sounded to his ears. It probably sounded dumb or too cheesy, but he actually loved how goofy and animated Kuroo was when he laughed. This was a sign that his emotions were beginning to grow a little too far.

After that wonderful day, the boys had crash landed into bed, holding onto one another as each boy tried to calm down from the laughter that was building within still. What a day that had been.

The fifth day that the boys had spent together was spent with a lot of bickering, but that was due to Kuroo trying to talk Tsukishima into going somewhere he desperately wasn't fond of and didn't want to go to. It took some convincing, but Kuroo eventually talked Tsukishima into going to the bar and clubs side of Tokyo.

So they found Kuroo's favorite club, which was actually quite a scene and did seem like a lot of fun, if Tsukki were being less cynical and he was actually into going to clubs. But that was where they drank, and Tsukishima had finally gotten drunk enough to actually dance on the dance floor like Kuroo requested of him. It took even more convincing on Kuroo's part to get Tsukishima to dance _next_ to him, but they were pressed up against each other on the dance floor while pretending to dance and move their bodies like all of the other couples that were there. Slowly, but surely, the boys mouths were brought together and moved together like their bodies moved.

Needless to say, Tsukishima and Kuroo had kissed a lot during their time together. They kissed in the hotel room, they kissed at whatever Kuroo had taken Tsukki to go do that day, and they kissed in front of Kuroo's coworkers, which was rather odd in Tsukishima's mind, as Tsukki would be leaving soon. His coworkers would likely ask where the blond had disappeared to. But as long as Tsukishima could get more of those delicious, breath-sucking kisses, where he was left forgetting his name and where he was for a few seconds, Tsukishima really didn't care where they kissed. This was really getting to be interesting by the end, but wasn't that what all vacations were meant to be?

This final vacation week was turning out to be something rather special, and it was actually beginning to make Tsukishima dread the end of it now.

\---

"Do we actually have to do this? You know how I felt about taking pictures with you on my phone. I made you delete the ones you had on your phone," Tsukishima said as he looked at the machine, raising an eyebrow to Kuroo, who was looking at all of the options for the sets and prices they could do through a book that was offered to him when they came inside.

They were at an arcade. At first, Tsukishima complained to Kuroo and told him that the arcade was going to be the worst memory of them all. He was not likely to enjoy said arcade, as he was not likely to play any of the games. But they did play a few games together, and Tsukishima had to admit that he had a decent time, especially when he beat Kuroo at air hockey, when Kuroo had claimed that he was 'the best' at it. They also played a racing game where they were on fake stationary four-wheeled bikes, and Tsukishima lost unfairly, as Kuroo had continuously pushed on Tsukishima and reached to mess with his bike settings. But it was nice to see the look on Kuroo's face at the victory. So Tsukishima really didn't lose, as he won the precious look that had graced Kuroo's face at his own unfair victory.

But now they were on the bottom floor of the arcade, and Tsukki was giving unnerving looks at the purikura machine they were standing in front of. What was the purpose of getting photos done to remember their time together when they weren't even going to see each other again? Tsukishima was already dreading the moment that they would inevitably have to leave one another. Why would he want to hang onto a photo strip of Kuroo to remember him by? It was already beyond torturous to have to leave Kuroo at the end of all of this right now, anyway.

Sighing, Kuroo gave Tsukishima a look that Kuroo had given him so many times this week. "How many purikura machines do you have back home? Ones that are this good? This is the _place_ to do purikura, too. Come on, Buttercup. I just want you to get the best out of Tokyo, and this really is the best there is to offer. Can you just humor me?" Kuroo asked. There was a bit of a whine in Kuroo's voice and he had a sad pout upon his lips. That wasn't a very fair thing for Kuroo to be using against Tsukki at the moment, and even though the two boys had only known each other for a little while, Kuroo was starting to learn just how to make Tsukki bend and break. This was one of the methods he had learned would work, even though Tsukishima never usually paid attention to the whines of his friends.

Maybe it was because Kuroo was slowly moving out of the friend zone. Tsukki didn't know that Kuroo had even made it into the friend zone, but he was certainly at least there, if not further at this rate. Right now though, just like with any of his other friends who wanted something out of him, they would pout and whine and get a hard no from Tsukki at what they had wanted. But really, Kuroo was beyond a friend status at this point. He was starting to become something much more, which told Tsukki that he was screwed by the time the end of this vacation came.

This wasn't what Tsukki had wanted, but he knew that he was bound to give in eventually anyway. So letting out a bit of a sigh, Tsukki gave in and nodded to Kuroo. "Alright, I suppose we can. But you know I'm not taking any pictures home with me, right? You can save them for your scrapbooks or whatever," Tsukishima said before he climbed into the booth. Tsukishima didn't even know if Kuroo had scrapbooks or photo books of people he had met in Tokyo. He just assumed it was a thing that Kuroo would have though.

A win was a win, Kuroo figured, as he told the sales associate how long they wanted to be in the booth and told her which package they were going to do, and stepped into the booth after Tsukishima. Regardless of if Tsukishima wanted to take any of the pictures home with him or not, they were at least getting the pictures done and the memory of spending time together would forever be painted on photographs and etched into history.

The boys adjusted, and Kuroo set down his bag. Tsukki eyed the bag that Kuroo had gotten from the arcade up the stairs, and he shook his head a bit just at the thought of what Kuroo had gotten. Kuroo was actually thrilled to have earned enough tickets to get a lava lamp. It was kind of priceless to see Kuroo's reaction to having enough tickets. What in the world did Kuroo want with a lava lamp anyway?

"Alright, can we just get this over with?" Tsukishima asked in a defeated voice as Kuroo started to mess around with the machine controls, getting the lights to flash and make noises. Kuroo was snickering a bit though, and he looked back to Tsukki. "Oh, you need bunny ears. That has to happen," Kuroo said with a wink before he added other features, like stars and diamonds and hearts. Tsukki was groaning at the animated bunny ears that sat upon his head. They were very cartoonish and they moved whenever Tsukishima moved his head.

It was starting to get to be too much, but Tsukki just waited as patiently as he could and he actually rolled his eyes at the fact that Kuroo was just adding so much to the picture, and Kuroo had put cat ears on himself. He also added "Welcome 2 Tokyo!" at the bottom, which made them seem like such tourists. Tsukishima was a tourist, but Kuroo was definitely not with the fact that he actually worked in Tokyo. Either way, that was what Kuroo wanted on the photo, so Tsukishima wasn't going to argue with him.

There was only a few seconds before Kuroo had taken the first picture, with his arm slung around Tsukki's back and he winked. Tsukki was awkward about the whole thing, and he awkwardly threw up a peace sign, because he really just didn't know what to do. Kuroo had up his other hand as if to show that he was acting to claw at someone, as he was decorated as a fake cat in the photo. They took a few [pictures](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5ca8dc71723b643bf42025d87785d037/tumblr_phu6voYQ8U1qjctq1_1280.jpg) like that, and the boys did different poses while they had animal ears on their head. Once the pictures were taken, Tsukishima looked at Kuroo, who went right back to adjusting the settings and doing his best to give them large-ass anime eyes. "Aw, they're not going any bigger than that. Okay, this will work," Kuroo said once he adjusted the camera a bit more to focus in on their eyes.

The boys looked at the camera for a picture, looked at each other for a picture, then looked away. Tsukishima had to admit, it was actually starting to get more enjoyable. He didn't want to gorge out his eyes anymore or rip out his hair. 

He was having fun watching Kuroo adjust the settings, and it was bringing out the enjoyment of life that he had lost, which his friends had wanted to give back to him. That was one of the secretive motives they had behind the vacation, but they played it off as only missing Tsukishima completely. They really did miss him, so that wasn't really a lie or false, but there was definitely more motive than just that. Tsukishima just didn't know, and he also didn't know that he was missing out on so much fun in life. Kuroo was making him realize that. His friends didn't know that they were causing this vacation fling, but they just hoped that whatever Tsukki was doing, he was enjoying himself.

Back to the purikura, there was a setting on the machine that gave the boys a rainbow affect, so they took multiple like that with the pride of being part of the LGBT community like they were. Then they went to black and white photos, trying to act seriously. They joked around with the honeymoon setting and they pretended to be in love. Although, it wasn't that far off and doing the honeymoon photos were dangerous to Tsukishima's mental health. That was also when the two boys started to kiss in the photos, but they really were no longer worried about the snap of the camera, as they ravished each other's lips. They were probably too focused on each other to bother realizing that the camera was still going off.

After a make out session, Kuroo pulled back and smiled to Tsukki, who had a bit of a pink blush on his face. Kuroo's kisses were like a drug. "Take out the hat and the glasses. I want to take more pictures," Kuroo said as he started to adjust the camera in order to take even more photos. He made it so Tsukki looked like he was far away while he had on his tiger hat, and Tsukki tried his best to look like he was going to attack Kuroo, who had put on his zebra hair and tried his best to look scared of tiger Tsukki.

The boys were in the booth for probably a total of three hours, before an employee had to ask them to leave, as their time was up. Finally, they both stepped out of the booth, and Kuroo held out his hand to Tsukishima to help him climb out, who actually took the hand and they went to go see the results of their photo booth adventures.

It was definitely not as bad of an experience as Tsukki was assuming it would be in his mind. Tsukishima was glad to be proven wrong once again by Kuroo, who just seemed to know that Tsukishima would enjoy these things. Maybe not on a normal, daily basis, but it was fun while out on vacation like he was.

As they looked through all of the photos that they got to pick through and decide which to keep and print, Tsukishima paid for an actual photo book for Kuroo to keep everything in, since he was just going to take all of the photos home with him and not bother putting them anywhere safe. They also made more than just polaroids. They had stickers, photo strips, and little story books. It was an expensive trip to go get purikura done, but both boys were happy by the end of it.

Stopping at an empty counter, Kuroo started to look through the photos and he smiled at all of them, letting out little chuckles at every single one. But that was when he looked up to Tsukishima and saw the look on his face, which was one of wonder at the moment. The way that Kuroo was just so lost in all of the photos had done this to Tsukki. "Here..." Kuroo said as he pulled out one of the first pictures that the boys took. He reached to a pen that was just randomly on the counter, and he started to write on the photo. Then, Kuroo passed it to Tsukki, giving him a smile. "Now you can't forget me, Buttercup. Here, do the same with this one here," Kuroo said as he took one of the pictures out that had been super similar to the one that Kuroo had handed him.

Tsukki looked down to see what Kuroo had done to the photo. He had simply signed his name and put a heart next to his signature, and that little symbol had caused Tsukki's heart to start to race. But he wouldn't let that bother him, and Tsukishima took the pen from Kuroo, signing his name in the same fashion that Kuroo had and he added his own heart by his name, no matter how cheesy he thought it was. "This is the only one I'm taking home with me, you know," Tsukki said as he held up the photo Kuroo signed before he looked back at it, feeling the tiniest bit of heat starting to rise to his cheeks as he pulled out his wallet to slip the photo inside of it.

Humming and nodding to Tsukki, Kuroo seemed to be content with that response and the boy looked towards Tsukishima once more. "I know, you're still content to try to forget about me. But as long as you keep that photo with you, I'm just hopeful that you won't forget about me and remember the magical time you had in Tokyo with yours truly," Kuroo said again with another ridiculous look across his face and a hand against his chest. It was things like this that made Tsukishima snicker, but he was honestly hoping the same thing. He didn't want to forget about Kuroo, and he highly doubted he would.

Kuroo took Tsukki back to the ground floor and took him back to the train station. It was such a fun and tiring day that Tsukishima had actually put his head on Kuroo's shoulder and drifted to sleep when they were on the train back to the hotel. Kuroo didn't mind, and he put his hand on Tsukki's thigh, where Tsukki had put his hand on top of Kuroo's hand. They stayed pretty quiet for the train ride back to the hotel, and Tsukki was pretty sure he had drifted back to sleep in that time. If things kept happening like this, he would absolutely regret leaving, and he would probably want to stay. It couldn't be that way, but he had a feeling that he was going to be heartbroken by the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So, I am terribly sorry about the wait for this chapter again, but I do have to give some credit here. For one, my lovely friend [SHSLshortie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHSLshortie) created [this beautiful art](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5ca8dc71723b643bf42025d87785d037/tumblr_phu6voYQ8U1qjctq1_1280.jpg) that you will see in the fic up there! Please, follow her [tumblr blog](https://shslartie.tumblr.com/) for more absolutely beautiful content. I'm blessed to be able to have this girl in my life.
> 
> Second, I would like to give a shout out to my friend [Dakato](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dakato) who has been a rock for me and opened my eyes to the beauty that is KurooTsukki. Please, go check out her very beautiful works and love on her, because she is phenomenal. She was actually probably part of the reason I was so distracted while writing this, but we've had our fun, so it was well worth it. I am sorry that all of you had to experience waiting like this though.
> 
> Finally, I want to thank all of you readers for being so patient with me. I adore all of you and I don't want to make any other promises here, because I don't have any clue when the next time is that I'm going to update this work. But I just hope that it won't be too long! Although, I am participating in the KurooTsukki fluff event, so it might take a little longer... ahaha... Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING. THIS IS PURE SIN AND ALL SMUT. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THESE THINGS, PLEASE SKIP THIS CHAPTER.
> 
> This chapter isn't important to the fic if you'd rather just skip it and not read smut. But if you are going to read it, I hope you enjoy it!

As time continued on, there was a nagging sensation in Tsukishima's mind right at the moment that told him he needed to think about the reality of the situation. Tsukishima's subconscious mind was starting to poke through to his conscious mind and he was having such a difficult time with the idea that he would have to leave at some point. It may not have been the best idea to spend time with Kuroo after all, as he would have to pack up and go. The time was coming soon, too, which was making it more and more difficult. They really only had three more days together. Wasn't it odd how romantic emotions could spring out of nowhere and leave a person feeling desperate to hold on? Tsukishima certainly thought it was odd, and a bit unfair at that.

The evening was upon the two boys, and they were back in Tsukishima's hotel room, just watching some stupid romantic comedy that Kuroo had picked out. Kei was never exactly the type to fall victim right into cheesy romcoms like this one, but with Kuroo, it didn't seem to be too bad. The boys were snickering at the movie and making comments about how they thought it would end, but eventually their minds had turned elsewhere and there were other romantics things happening, other than just on the television screen in front of them.

Kuroo turned to look at Tsukishima, who had slowly turned to Kuroo and both boys moved closer together simultaneously. "Tetsu..." Tsukishima said quietly as he was looking at those prize pieces of flesh upon Kuroo's face, and Kuroo licked his lips before he moved in. He might have said something, but Tsukki definitely missed it. Both sets of eyes had drifted shut and their lips had touched. The first couple of movements were slow and tentative, as if they were both asking through the kiss just how far the other wanted to go. Eventually though, the kissing became more free, and there was no hesitation for either boy. They went to making out and soon enough, Kuroo had turned the movie off and had pushed Tsukishima back into the bed, his lips still attached to Tsukki's in the process.

When Tsukishima felt his back hit the mattress and he let Kuroo's hands cup his face, he was starting to scream internally. But the kiss was just far too good for Tsukishima to just let it go or try to push Kuroo away. He had to fight against his mind and tell himself to just let this happen.

There were so many emotions boiling up inside of Tsukishima right now, and he really wasn't too terribly sure that he wanted to let these emotions win. One emotion was a longing for Kuroo to keep going. That emotion brought along the thought that maybe Kuroo would do more than just make out with him that night. Maybe they would do more. But there was another emotion that was nagging in the back of Tsukishima's brain, telling him not to let Kuroo do any of this, to not get caught up in all of the kissing where their mouths were dancing against one another, where their tongues were fighting for dominance, and where their teeth were clashing gently. It was telling him that this was one of the worst ideas, but that thought had been lost when Kuroo made his next move.

It was right then that Kuroo had nudged his knee firmly and repeatedly against Tsukishima's crotch, and he kept his knee moving against Tsukishima, who was starting to groan into his throat through the kissing. That was when Tsukishima had started to push himself against Kuroo a little more, and he pulled Kuroo closer by the sides of his shirt, if that were even possible. This was what Tsukki had wanted, so why was his mind trying to yell at him at the moment?

This was beginning to get a little too arousing and although this was what Tsukki had wanted, maybe he was letting himself get a little too into this. It didn't mean anything, did it? It didn't mean that the two boys were going to keep this up, and it certainly didn't change anything. Tsukishima would still go home in a couple of days with tons of memories of Kuroo, and Kuroo would be left alone in the hotel back in Tokyo, with all of the fond memories of Tsukishima. Either way, this wasn't going to stop.

But it certainly was hot.

Tsukishima continued to grind himself onto Kuroo's knee and he let Kuroo know just how he felt with the sounds he was making, which was more than enough reward for Kuroo for this whole thing. Kuroo started to smirk gently into the kiss with the way that the blond was reacting to all of this. To Tsukishima's defense, it had been nearly a year and a half since the last time he had slept with someone. That wasn't to say that he hadn't touched himself in that year and a half, but it was still a lonely thing to consider.

Feeling himself start to get aroused even further, Tsukishima didn't think any of this was fair, as Kuroo was giving him all of the attention and getting worked up, but where was it going to leave Kuroo? Tsukishima had to show him just how much he appreciated this, and there was no way he was going to leave Kuroo to do it on his own. Hell, if Kuroo was going to arouse Tsukki, he sure as hell was going to do the same to Kuroo.

Slowly, but without hesitation of any kind, Tsukishima had reached his hand to Kuroo's waist, and he eventually managed to wedge his hand into the area he was looking for. He was trying his best to get to touch Kuroo's sensitive region, and he had caused a mewl of response when he found it. His hand started to massage Tetsurou's member through his own jeans, and the pants were starting to get tighter and tighter.

Breathing was essential, and although their brains were wrapped up in all of the touching and grinding each was doing, Kuroo had to pull back to breathe. It was right then that he started to pull off his shirt and Tsukishima sat up a little to do the same, getting assistance from Kuroo as they fumbled through the action. "You sure you want to-"

"Fuck yes, I don't think my dick will hold out too much longer. It's been crying for me to touch you," Kuroo said in a husky voice, but there was a bit of desperation to his tone. Tsukishima wasn't mean enough to make the man wait. Hell, he himself didn't want to wait any longer either. He wanted this. He wanted Kuroo. Regardless of how bad of an idea this whole thing was, he was going to have Kuroo one way or another. He would only pray that Kuroo would want him the same way.

The boys wasted no time in discarding their shorts and boxers, and Tsukishima had a bit of a thought right then before they started moving together. "K-Kuroo, wait. Do... do you have condoms? Or lube?" Tsukishima asked quietly. It would have seemed awkward, but both boys were too wound up at the moment for the awkwardness of the question to sink in.

Humming a bit, Kuroo nodded as he slid off the bed and went to his work bag, as Tsukishima referred to it as. "So you're telling me... you carry this stuff around with you all of the time? You just assume you're going to get laid?" Tsukishima asked in a curious voice. It wasn't an upset voice, and really, Tsukishima didn't care too much at the moment. But it did bring a smile to his face, and the smile hid a bit of his smirk.

Exasperated, Kuroo brought over a few little packages and another small bottle. Tsukishima couldn't keep in the snickering as Kuroo climbed back onto the bed. "I've only been carrying it with me the last two nights. Well, this makes it the third. But I wanted to be prepared and not have to go ask a coworker to use some of their stuff. I was just being hopeful! I really like you, o-"

Tsukishima cut Kuroo off and Kuroo let out a moan as Tsukki wrapped his hand around Kuroo's dick and started to slide his hand up and down slowly. Really, he was likely to give the man shit at some point when it was all over, but right now, he was too far invested in making Kuroo feel good. The smirk started to dance across his lips a little more freely as Kuroo started to keen into the touch and he was losing all of his composure to Tsukishima's hand against his sensitive flesh. "Y-you were much less foreplay th-than I wa-... oh god... f-fu-... than I was expecting..." Kuroo finished as his eyes began to close.

That was when Kuroo had fallen onto the bed and let Tsukishima start to take care of his erected penis, sliding his hand up and down and twisting at the base. That was when Tsukishima had brought his mouth a little closer to Kuroo's groin, and he looked up to Kuroo with hooded eyes, just to see the reaction he was getting out of the man. His hand slowed and started to move at a very languid, painfully light pace. It was getting a groan out of Kuroo, who had yet decided to look at Tsukishima. But the very moment he looked down to his groin, Tsukishima's lips wrapped snugly around the head of his cock.

"Fuck!" Kuroo called out, throwing his head back into the pillow as his warm flesh started to be lapped at by Tsukki, someone he had only dreamed about having sex with, and touched himself over at the thought. 

Tsukishima really didn't think this would go this far when Kuroo had agreed to his drunken proposition, but now that they were here, there was no going back. He didn't want to go back, and he certainly didn't want to lose all of these memories of the man with raven hair.

"O-oh, Tsuk-... Buttercup!" Kuroo called out again as Tsukki swirled his tongue around the head and let it play with Kuroo's slit, lapping at the sensitive part underneath the head as well, where the shaft met the pink tip. Kuroo was nearly weeping at this point, and it was making Tsukishima feel pretty good at the moment.

When Tsukishima began to suck at his head and took him in just a little more, Kuroo's toes began to curl and Tsukishima was starting to rut down against the mattress, as seeing the man get so turned on and pleasured had been such a turn on to him right then. "Buttercup... oh shit, please..." Kuroo groaned and Tsukishima pulled off of Kuroo with a very lewd pop, saliva dripping from his lip and down his chin.

"Please what, Tetsu?" Tsukishima asked with a very devilish look in his eyes, not at all hiding the smirk on his lips and the devious look in his pupils. His hand was still around Kuroo, and he was still moving dangerously slow, but enough to keep Kuroo on the edge.

Another groan left Kuroo's lips, and Tsukki watched the way Kuroo started to squirm. It definitely wasn't enough for Kuroo to get further along, but the sensation had to be enough to tell Kuroo that he wasn't getting away from this just yet. "Please do... something! F-fuck, Tsukki, I'd let you fuck me, o-or I can fuck you-ou...." Kuroo said in a whining, pleading voice.

This was exactly what Tsukishima wanted to hear. One, he really didn't know whether Kuroo was strictly a top or bottom. But now that Tsukki knew that Kuroo was willing to do either, he was having so many dangerous ideas at the moment. Or really, they were very attractive ideas of what he could do to Kuroo right now, not so much on the dangerous side. But two, now he knew that Kuroo wanted to do more than just oral stuff. He had to figure, since Kuroo had brought over condoms and lube, and Tsukishima had asked, but it was still nice to get that confirmation.

Reaching for the bottle of lube that had left Kuroo's fingertips to roll onto the sheets, and popping the top, he dribbled a bit of the lube onto his fingers and let his other hand take some before setting it aside. "Anything at all then, huh?" Tsukishima said as he used some of the lube to tease Kuroo, sliding it over his cock and getting a squeaking noise out of Kuroo right then. But that was when Tsukishima started to make his way in between Kuroo's legs, and he started to feel gently in between the crack. It was a very smooth surface, and Tsukishima grinned a bit. "What if I just do... this?" Tsukishima asked.

Jumping and squeezing his eyes shut as tight as they could go, Kuroo let out a groan as Tsukishima started to prod at his entrance, one that was clenching and stretching. It was wailing to be touched and actually thrust into, but Tsukishima was taking it slow. "Ah-ah! Ahh, aha... Tsukki yes, please..." Kuroo said with lust and want behind his tone.

Wiggling his fingers against the tight ring of muscle, Tsukki couldn't tease for too much longer, as his own dick was starting to throb at the sight of Kuroo wreathing against the sheets. Finally, Tsukishima pushed into Kuroo's entrance and his ears were greeted with a very loud wailing noise. It didn't sound like one of pain, it didn't seem like Kuroo was frightened. He sounded pleasured, but Tsukishima did just want to make sure that this was what Kuroo was saying with his noises. So Tsukishima waited for Kuroo to adjust a bit, only just moving his fingers and allowing them to wiggle inside of Kuroo just gently. When Kuroo made eye contact with Tsukishima, the look Kuroo gave him told him exactly what he needed to know.

Tsukishima started to move his fingers slowly back out, and then back in, and Kuroo started to moan a little more repeatedly and more frequently. "Y-yeah, like that!" Kuroo yelled out, meeting the thrusts of Tsukki's fingers. Seeing the way that Kuroo was reacting to all of this had started to make another emotion bubble up inside of him. Maybe it was just the lust of what they were doing, but to Tsukishima, having more than just lust for someone while having sex really just never happened. So he knew that it was a different feeling.

He didn't have time to think about that though, as Kuroo was reaching for Tsukishima's arm and he pulled Tsukishima down against him. Tsukki's fingers were still inside of Kuroo, still moving in and out as much as they could, but Tsukishima had to release his hold against Kuroo's cock, balancing himself over the top of Kuroo. The two boys started to kiss, and Tsukishima wasn't complaining, but he wanted to do more. "F-fuck me, please..." Kuroo whispered against Tsukishima's lips before he went back to kissing Tsukishima.

They really only had time to kiss for another few seconds, as Tsukki had sat up and looked around for one of the condoms that Kuroo had pulled out. His fingers left Kuroo's hole, and he hoped that Tsukishima's two fingers had been enough with how wide he tried to stretch his them out. The silvery wrapping stood out against the red sheets, and Tsukishima snatched the condom off the bed and tore it open. He then slid it down around his dick, and Kuroo reached for Tsukishima's leg, tapping on it a bit. "I have a request... Please? I... I..."

"What, Tetsu?" Tsukishima asked as he reached for the lube once more, only trying to prepare himself for entering Kuroo.

"I want to... I want to ride... you..." he said, the lust was still very high in his voice and it sounded like he was almost drunk. Tsukishima really didn't blame him though, as he was really feeling similar things.

That was when it hit Tsukishima though. Kuroo had asked to ride him, and that was really something that Tsukishima would probably kill to happen. He was always on top when he did things like this, and always took control. But maybe lack of control would be a good thing tonight and he had kind of wanted for someone to take over.

Without saying a word, Tsukishima rolled onto his back and set the lube down, running his hand over his own neglected and condom-covered cock and groaning nearly silently at the sensations it was bringing to him. Kuroo sat up and took the lube himself, doing something that Tsukishima should have been more focused on at the time.

When he felt cold fingers against his entrance, Tsukishima gasped and keened at the sensation of Kuroo just thrusting his fingers directly in, no warning at all. Didn't Kuroo want to ride him? Didn't he want to get Tsukishima inside him? Sure, Tsukishima wasn't opposed to being fucked himself and he liked the sensation sometimes, having his own sex toys at home when he wanted to try and the dildos for when he felt like being pegged. But this was just confusing. Tsukishima didn't have to wait for Kuroo to start moving his hand, as he was already thrusting his fingers in and out. "Sh-shit... Kuroo!" Tsukishima called out, his face being covered by his elbow at the pleasure it was bringing him.

A smirk crossed Kuroo's face and he let out a pleased sound after he removed his fingers from Tsukishima. "I just wanted to see your reaction, that's all. But let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Kuroo asked as he started to position himself over Tsukishima's groin, reaching for his cock to start to slide the head along his crack, nearly letting out a moan when it ran over his entrance. For a moment, the boy had just let himself ride Tsukki's cock against his crack, not taking it in yet.

This night was certainly going to be fun, Tsukishima could feel it.

Sucking in a breath of air, Kuroo looked at Tsukishima and gave him a smile, right before he sunk down on Tsukishima's dick.

Both boys were nearly crying at the pleasure they were feeling. Tsukishima let out a cry, as his dick was finally getting the attention it needed. Kuroo's sound was just pure pleasure as he sunk all the way down on Tsukishima.

After a few moments of breathing heavily and doing his best to calm his breathing down, Kuroo settled his hands on Tsukishima's chest, smiling down to him. Tsukishima smiled back, just waiting for Kuroo to be ready to move. "Take your time, babe," Tsukishima said. The sound of the pet name just felt right, but Tsukishima's mind had been telling him that it really wasn't right of him to be using such a word. It was out there now, though. Tsukki couldn't take it back.

Closing his eyes and taking a breath, Kuroo wiggled just a bit on Tsukki, to get himself situated and accustomed to the sensation. But then, Kuroo opened his eyes, and he brought his face down to hover over Tsukishima's lips. "You're going to find my sweet spot tonight. I won't let this stop until you do," Kuroo said with a grin upon his lips. That brought a thought to Tsukishima right then. Has Kuroo never had the pleasure of his prostate being hit over and over? Has he never had an orgasm because of his prostate? It caused a fire inside Tsukishima to just make that happen for Kuroo. Tsukishima groaned and he reached a hand up to press against the back of Kuroo's head, pulling his head down to crash their lips together.

They kissed and lapped into one another's mouth for a minute or so. As they kissed, Kuroo very slowly lifted his hips and let them drop. Both boys groaned into the kiss when Kuroo had started to move. He was still moving slowly, just trying to get accustomed to Tsukishima being inside of him still. The thing was, neither boy was exactly small in length or girth. They both had a decent size to them, so it probably would take a little longer for Kuroo to get adjusted to the sensation.

Finally, Kuroo had broken the kiss and he gradually started to move himself faster against Tsukishima, bouncing his ass a little more quickly. It was still a gentle movement, and it caused Tsukishima to wonder if Kuroo only liked things to go softly and wasn't into hard sensations. It was still very hot, and the boy was still feeling good with having Kuroo around him, but Tsukishima still wondered if Kuroo wasn't into pain with sex. Though, it really didn’t seem like an accurate thing to be thinking at the moment. Could that even be possible?

That was when Tsukishima got his answer, though, because Kuroo had sat up a little straighter, then he leaned himself back onto his palms and he lifted himself up as high as he could go without Tsukishima falling out of him, and he slammed himself down onto Tsukki's dick, letting out sounds of pleasure as he did so. "Ah! A-ah, yeah! Fuck, yeah... God you feel good i-inside me," Kuroo moaned out. Tsukishima was getting flustered with all of the dirty talk, but it was hot to hear and see Kuroo getting so worked up that it caused him to talk like this.

Groaning as Kuroo continued to impale himself on his dick, Tsukishima reached a hand down to touch Kuroo's cock. His hand slid against Kuroo and he wanted to make Kuroo feel good as good as Kuroo was making him feel. "Fuck... Buttercup, fuck... I don't... don't wanna c-come too fast, I... ahh, w-want you to f-find... shit, oh god..." Kuroo said as his eyes flashed open and he stuttered a bit in his bouncing. The look of pleasure on his face gave Tsukki a bit of a hint, and he tried to replicate the same exact thrust this time around.

"F-fucking... oh shit..." Kuroo cried out, also doing his best to replicate the same thrusts as well. Tsukki really didn't keep moving his hand too fast, but he was still doing so, and it was drawing Kuroo a bit closer to his orgasm. But Kuroo seemed to have found exactly what he was looking for, and it caused Tsukki to smirk a bit.

Spasms had caused Kuroo's muscles to squeeze around Tsukki, and Tsukki grunted a bit. The orgasm was being pulled out of Tsukki a little faster too with each and every thrust, where Kuroo was continuing to bounce, and his prostate was causing the sensation to be overwhelming inside of him. "T-Tetsu... Oh shit," Tsukishima said, getting closer and closer with every thrust.

Watching the way Kuroo's face twisted up caused a feeling to develop for Tsukki, and it really only had a little to do with the sex they were having. He wanted to get Kuroo to his orgasm. He wanted to make Kuroo orgasm on his dick, and Tsukishima started to become determined for that to happen. Tsukishima wanted to be the cause of that orgasm. The real emotion he was feeling was a longing to be the cause of the good things that happened in Kuroo's life. It was a dangerous feeling to be having, but Tsukishima really wasn't being realistic at the moment, not with everything happening on top of him.

Tsukishima continued to pump his wrist around Kuroo's cock, and the motion was causing Kuroo to flail a bit and he was falling out of rhythm with his movements. "Oh... Ah... ah, yeah... oh..." Kuroo was panting, and Tsukishima could just see it on Kuroo's face that he was nearly there. Even though Tsukishima was having a little difficulty focusing, as he was very close himself, he still continued to pump the boy on top of him, trying to get him to that orgasm.

After another few pumps, Kuroo's voice had become strangled, as if he was stuck there, until it all was pushed over the edge by Tsukishima, who was still thrusting inside of Kuroo. The powerful sensation that had been building up inside of Kuroo was finally toppling over the edge, and his dick was shooting out his load, all over Tsukishima's chest. "F-Fuck! Butter... cup... fuck!" Kuroo called out as his dick continued to twitch and cry out with the orgasm taking over his body.

That was when Tsukishima pulled Kuroo down against him, and he held onto the man right on his chest, regardless of the sticky semen that he was making Kuroo lay in. Tsukishima gave Kuroo another moment before he continued his movements, because even though Kuroo had reached his high, Tsukishima hadn't reached his just yet. It didn't seem to bother Kuroo though as Tsukishima continued his thrusts.

"Stay there... Ah, yeah... fuck, I'm close..." Tsukishima said quietly, panting softly and he was just glad that Kuroo wasn't telling him to stop. Slowly and surely, Kuroo had pulled up a little and he pressed his soft lips against Tsukishima's own, just ravishing Tsukishima all over. Then, the man sat up a little more and started to move more against Tsukishima, which was a surprise.

Wasn't it painful to keep this up? Wasn't Kuroo overstimulated? The look on his face did seem like he was being pushed a little too far, but he just kept bouncing on Tsukishima. "You close?" Kuroo asked as he continued to move, only getting a nod out of Tsukishima. Kuroo reached a hand down to his own member, starting to pump himself back to the arousal he had when they started this.

This was confusing, but Tsukishima didn't care right now. He just cared that he reached his high and that he’d have an orgasm that he didn't cause himself. "Oh god... Kuroo... sh-shit..." Tsukishima said a little louder, telling Kuroo that he was definitely close.

With a strangled moan, Kuroo slammed his hips down and tightened his hole all around Tsukishima. It was that motion that pushed Tsukishima over the edge, and Tsukishima had Kuroo's name on his lips as he did so. He felt himself pulsing inside of Kuroo, and his eyes were squeezed shut.

Humming, Kuroo seemed to be up to something. But he just lifted himself off of Tsukki and crawled onto the bed besides Tsukishima. His hands were searching for something, and he finally found what he was looking for. It was the other condom that Kuroo had brought over. He used a tissue from the nightstand to clean himself up first, but Kuroo then put the condom on his length, which was back to being fully hard. He then reached for the bottle of lube and he coated himself with the slippery lubricant.

As Tsukishima started to come back to himself from the strong climax, he looked at Kuroo in a very curious way, wondering just what the man was up to. "So, now that you've made me orgasm by finding my prostate, I'm going to find yours now," Kuroo said with a smirk on his lips.

Groaning, Tsukishima covered his face. "No... Kuroo, no..." he said. That didn't stop Kuroo from trying to push Tsukishima onto his stomach. He actually succeeded, because he was poking and prodding at Tsukishima until he moved. Finally, Tsukishima was on his stomach, lying flat on the bed. Kuroo was hovering over him, and Tsukishima lifted his head to see what Kuroo was doing. "I've already come once... Don't do this... I'll be too sensitive," Tsukishima murmured.

That didn't stop Kuroo from lining up and pushing himself right against Tsukishima's entrance though. The flesh was still sensitive, and even though Tsukki hadn't been fucked, he was still tingling as Kuroo lined himself up. "Oh, but it will be an even better orgasm. Trust me, the second one is usually better than the first," Kuroo said as he hovered close to Tsukishima's ear and then pressed his lips against the column of Tsukishima's neck.

It was right then that Kuroo had pushed inside of Tsukishima, and Tsukki had stopped breathing. It was painful when Kuroo pressed inside, but it was a good kind of pain. Tsukishima didn't want to admit it, but the sensation was nice. "A-ah... Kuroo..." Tsukishima cried out, fisting the bed sheets and clenching his jaw. He didn't want to admit to Kuroo that this was a good sensation, but it really was a nice feeling.

Even though Tsukishima had just climaxed, he could feel his blood still pooling in his groin region and it was fighting to make himself go back to standing tall and hard. Kuroo hadn't moved inside of Tsukishima yet, just giving Tsukishima time to adjust. "You're so sexy, you know that?" Kuroo asked against Tsukishima's neck. He nipped at the skin gently, and Tsukishima groaned a bit.

That was when Tsukishima tried to push Kuroo up a bit. Kuroo did get off of him, but he stayed inside of him still, clearly still determined to make this happen. Tsukishima pushed himself up and stayed on his knees for a moment, clenching himself around Kuroo, who groaned quietly behind him. He then pulled off the condom from his erection, and he sighed, tossing the rubber aside. Not that he wanted to give this too much effort, but Kuroo had already made him try new things this week. What was the harm in trying this?

As he looked back to Kuroo, he took a breath. "Alright, you can move..." he said in a voice that was kind of broken. He wasn't sure that he really wanted Kuroo to keep on moving, but he was going to let this happen regardless.

Once Kuroo heard that, he started shallowly at first, and he just wanted Tsukishima to get used to him. Eventually, his thrusts started to get deeper, but they were still soft. Tsukishima had started to move back against Kuroo's thrusts, as little as he wanted to admit that this was actually enjoyable. He was definitely getting hard again and he wanted to reach his high at least one more time now. Usually, it was once, and then he was done. But now he was having second thoughts about that.

Kuroo had been trying to thrust himself in different ways once he started to make himself go in deeper. Clearly, he was trying to find Tsukishima's prostate and get him to have the same orgasm that Kuroo had experienced. Tsukki couldn't recall the last time he had been made to orgasm with his prostate other than by himself with his toys, but he wasn't sure another man was able to find his prostate by themselves. Tsukishima would probably just have to make himself orgasm again with his hand, but that wasn't so bad, really. He wouldn't blame Kuroo if he couldn't find his prostate.

That was a very incorrect thing for Tsukishima to be thinking, though, because it was right then that Kuroo had thrust himself against Tsukishima's bundle of nerves, the ones that sent waves of pleasure inside of him and caused him to see stars. "O-Oh! Kuroo, there!" Tsukishima cried out brokenly, falling onto his elbows due to the feeling he was being given. It was overwhelming to say the least.

Grunting out and trying to replicate the thrust, Kuroo found the angle again and he was rewarded with the sounds of pleasure leaving Tsukishima's lips. "F-fuck, there! Yes!" Tsukishima cried out, pushing his hips back against Kuroo to get more of that sensation.

The two boys kept at it for another ten minutes, until they were both panting and they were both chasing their second orgasms. Finally though, Tsukishima pushed himself up and he was about to reach for his cock, when Kuroo swatted Tsukki's hand away and wrapped his hand around Tsukishima instead. "No, no... I'll do it," he panted out, starting to squeeze and tug at Tsukishima in all the right ways.

It wasn't that it was the best hand job that Tsukki had ever had, and it wasn't that Kuroo was perfect with his wrist movements, but with the combination of being fucked and the sensation on his length, Tsukishima felt a layer of sweat start to form on his brow and on the back of his neck. "K-Ku... I'm going to... Please make me..." he moaned out.

The smile that came to Kuroo's lips had been a proud one, and he continued his thrusts. "Come for me, babe. I've got you," Kuroo said, continuing to thrust against Tsukishima's prostate and he quickened his hand. Kuroo wasn't far from his own orgasm, but he wanted Tsukishima to reach his own first and he wanted the boy to feel good.

Really, it only took another five or so thrusts for the orgasm to start to build up and Kuroo squeezed Tsukki's member just right and hit his prostate just hard enough for it to start. "T-Tetsurou!" Tsukishima cried out, shooting his seed out all over Kuroo's wrist and the sheets below them. Thankfully enough, Kuroo had made himself take shallower thrusts, because he didn't want to overstimulate Tsukishima again.

Once he released Tsukishima's cock, he continued his thrusts and he held onto Tsukishima's waist. "C-come on, Tetsu... come inside me..." Tsukishima said. He was being as seductive as he could while he was exhausted from his second orgasm, and he said the words as he lifted his head, looking over and behind him to see the look that was scrunching up on Kuroo's face. That look just told Tsukishima that Kuroo was close.

Doing his best to squeeze around Kuroo a little more, Tsukki wanted to make Kuroo reach his high a little faster. It clearly worked. "O-oh, oh, Kei!" Kuroo called out. His last thrust was a little deep, and it did hit Tsukishima's sensitive prostate. But seeing Kuroo's pleasured face, and the way his orgasm was written all over him had had been more than enough for Tsukishima to forgive the man. It was a very attractive sight to see and he couldn’t care about the way Kuroo had slammed into him right then.

After stuttering to the orgasm, Tsukishima could feel Kuroo pulsing inside him and he smiled to know that Kuroo was filling up his condom right now. It was very nice to be feeling, and Tsukishima had a feeling that Kuroo was feeling very good himself right now.

It took the two boys another minute or so to fully pull out and away from one another, and the two boys had started to pant and laugh. That certainly was fun for both of the boys. It was right then though that Tsukishima started to move closer to Kuroo, and he put his head on Kuroo's chest, curling up closer to him. They were both sweaty and sticky, but Tsukishima couldn't bring himself to care in that moment. "Wow... Thanks for that. I didn't realize just how much I really needed that," Tsukishima said quietly.

The statement had caused Kuroo to chuckle a bit. "I needed it too, so of course, Buttercup. That definitely was some fun there, wasn't it?" Kuroo asked. He was smirking, but there was a genuine smile behind the smirk and Tsukki didn't need to look at the man to hear the smile in his voice. He was familiar with that smile already. "Should we shower? I can also go get different sheets if you want."

Shrugging a bit, Tsukishima made a sound to say that he really just didn’t care. It really wasn't like Tsukki to want to be lazy and he always wanted to clean up after having sex or masturbating. But right now, he really just wanted to be lazy and relax, which he never got to do. "Can we stay here for a moment? Can we... just lay here?" Tsukishima asked quietly. Really, he didn't know why he wanted to stay where he was, because he was definitely gross. He definitely needed to clean up. But there was just something about Kuroo that made him want to stay.

Humming a bit, Kuroo looked to Tsukishima, who was still curled up against him and still had his head on Kuroo's chest. "Sure, babe. We can stay here for a little while longer. Maybe we could finish that movie and get more of a laugh out of it?" Kuroo asked as he reached for the remote.

A groan that wasn't attractive had left Tsukishima's mouth, and he shook his head. He wasn’t even reacting to the pet name properly, as he really should have noticed. "I don't want to watch that movie. I'm sorry, Kuroo, but it's so stupid..." Tsukishima said. Sure, he had been enjoying watching it with Kuroo, but he really wasn't in the mood to focus on something that he needed to be snarky and sarcastic over. He would rather just lay there with Kuroo, and hold onto the boy that had caused him to orgasm not once, but twice that night. He really didn't want to do anything else.

Sighing, Kuroo put the remote down and he rubbed at Tsukishima's shoulder. "Alright, alright. We don't have to watch the movie. I mean, we weren't really watching it for the movie anyway. We were watching it to make fun of it," Kuroo said, which they both already knew was the truth, so Kuroo really didn't have to say it again.

Nodding, Tsukishima lifted his head and looked at Kuroo. His post orgasm brain was causing him to go a bit hazy in the moment, so while he knew that he needed to be careful, he really just couldn't bring himself to care in the moment. Bringing his face closer to Kuroo's, the two boys had locked lips again, and they just kept on kissing. There wasn't any real momentum in the kiss, and they were really just kissing. No tongues were involved this time around, and they didn't have any motivation behind this kissing.

The kiss probably lasted for two minutes this time around before Tsukishima finally pulled back. Kuroo had a smile on his face, and he had cocked an eyebrow. "Well then, that was certainly a nice kiss. What was that for?" Kuroo asked as he looked at Tsukishima, who could feel a pink blush start to spread across his face.

Sighing a bit, the post orgasmic haze was starting to face a bit more. He was starting to realize just how terrible this was becoming. Kuroo really was addicting though, and that had to be why Tsukishima was letting any of this happen at all. "It was a thank you. A thank you for everything," Tsukishima said before he put his head back against Kuroo's chest.

There was a pause, and Kuroo had reached a hand up to the back of Tsukishima's head, playing with his hair. "I don't know what you're thanking me over, but yeah, Buttercup. You're welcome. I should be thanking you too," Kuroo said softly. Tsukishima didn’t want to know what Kuroo wanted to thank him over, but Tsukishima knew that he was feeling thankful for many things that involved Kuroo. It was mainly the fact that Kuroo had shown him a good time this week and that he wasn’t going to just let Tsukishima sit and rot on vacation.

As Kuroo's hand continued to play with Tsukishima's hair and he was just rubbing the back of Tsukki's head gently, Tsukishima had hummed a bit more and he had felt his heart start to pound a bit faster. But if it was anything like the beating that was happening inside of Kuroo's chest right at the moment, he had a feeling that they were feeling about the same thing right now. It was dangerous.

Why did this have to be so unfair? Why did Kuroo have to be here in Tokyo? Why did Tsukki have to go back home in a few days? This whole vacation thing had to be one of the worst things in the world, and Tsukishima really didn't know how much more he could take of this. The more he learned about Kuroo, the more time he spent with the man, and the longer the two were romantic with one another, it really caused a painful sensation to start to stir inside of Tsukishima. He really didn’t want to go home. He just didn’t want to lose Kuroo.

Not that he wanted to, but Tsukishima had rolled away from Kuroo and he lied on his back, closing his eyes and just thinking about what the next step was going to be. He was really starting to fall for Kuroo, and it was going to be such a difficult next couple of days. Sure, Tsukishima was positive that Kuroo was still going to spend time with him and make it all worthwhile, but then Tsukki would have to leave. He would have to leave and go back home to his friends. This was all their fault. If they could have been normal friends and only paid for a few days of a vacation, or even just a week, none of this would have happened. Kuroo wouldn't have happened to fall into his life, and Tsukki wouldn't have had to leave what was probably the closest thing he had found to love in a couple of years.

"I think I'm actually going to shower. I'm sticky and gross..." Tsukki had said, and Kuroo had lifted his head to watch Tsukishima start to get himself out of bed.

It took a moment, but Kuroo started to stand up. "Good idea. Let me join you?" Kuroo suggested as a smile started to come to his face.

Feeling his heart start to clench, Tsukishima really wasn't sure what to do. He knew that he wanted Kuroo to join. He knew that he wanted to shower with the man and spend as much time with him as he possibly could. But at the same time, he knew that he really couldn't. He knew that the two boys had an expiration date. He knew that this fling would have to come to an end eventually, and he knew that he wasn't likely to make it if he had to spend even more time with Kuroo. "Uh... Maybe next time?" Tsukki had said as he looked over to Kuroo, who was standing up.

The denial that had come from Tsukki had sent Kuroo for a loop and he shook his head. "Buttercup, there might not be a next time..." he said softly, giving Tsukki a sad look that caused him to feel the guilt of the situation. This told Tsukishima that Kuroo was starting to think a little more about their expiration date as well, though, which was probably a good thing. Neither of them would be able to hold onto this in just a couple more days, and Tsukishima was grateful to know that Kuroo seemed to want this to just play out the rest of the way, rather than trying to hold on.

Biting his lip, Tsukishima looked down and he started to pull off his glasses. He was a bit blind at the given moment, but it was something he had to do. Really, that was a figurative statement, too. He was kind of blind with this whole fling thing as well, because he really couldn't see what was coming for the two boys. He had to figure that it was something that neither of them wanted, and he had to think that they would eventually move on once they were finally apart, but Tsukishima couldn't see that far ahead. He couldn't tell what was to come, and it was kind of terrifying.

Once the two boys got into the bathroom and started the water, Tsukishima watched as Kuroo plugged up the tub. "I'm feeling lazy. I want a bath and I want to relax, not a shower where it has to be quick and I have to stand," Kuroo said.

That was representative of the situation the two boys were in as well. Tsukki wanted to be lazy and just enjoy the situation, but he knew that it was likely going to bite him in the ass when he finally had to leave, just like taking a bath would be nice, but he would regret taking it once the bathwater started to get cold and when he realized that he would have to leave the water.

Either way, there was no way the two boys would untangle from one another for another two days, so Kuroo climbed into the bath rub and Tsukishima climbed in after him, settling between his legs and relaxing back into Kuroo's strong chest. If only he could take this with him. That would make all of this better.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the wait for this! I was working on the one shots for my [fluff week](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1218816). That's the end of my shameless self-plugging, but you are more than welcome to read those one shots too. The fluff week is also KurooTsukki, just like this fic will be.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, although it is a tad more angsty than the other five have been. Please enjoy and leave your comments!

The sun rays made their way through the spaces in the window curtains, gently illuminating the soft dust particles in the air. There weren't a lot of dust particles, as the space wasn't dirty or unsanitary, but the light coming from outside had definitely allowed one's eyes to see the dust that was present.

It was a morning that neither boy had been looking forward to. Nevertheless, the morning was upon the two boys as they laid bed and looked at one another, right into each other's eyes and trying to look into each other's souls. There was no verbal conversation happening, no movements had been too particularly grand, and a physical silence settled between the two of them. But the air between them wasn't silent at all. It was very tense.

It was very tense silence until an alarm went off on one of their phones. With a groan, Kuroo reached behind him to the sound and pulled the unholy noise closer so he could turn it off. "So then... Today's the day, huh?" Kuroo asked quietly after he set his phone down on the bed underneath him, turning his eyes back to see Tsukishima, who was just staring at him without glasses on his face.

With a bit of a sigh, Tsukki nodded his head and swallowed a bit. "Yeah, I have to get to the airport by two. I don't want to miss my flight at four," he said as he made eye contact with Kuroo. They shared a look between the two of them and they gave soft smiles to one another. It wasn't a happy smile that they were sharing. It was filled with the sadness of the situation that was upon them. But they both knew this day was coming and Tsukishima was regretting letting Kuroo so far into his life. So it was just a stale, lifeless smile.

With a sigh, Kuroo reached a hand out to caress Tsukki's face. Breathing in and melting against the touch, Tsukishima closed his eyes to the feeling. "I'm going to mi-"

"No. Don't say that. It makes this more real, and I can't handle real right now..." Tsukishima said as he opened his eyes. His vision had become just a tad blurry, as there were now tears forming behind his eyelids. Regardless, he looked ahead to Kuroo and just gave him as serious of a look as he could muster up. He knew that they would miss this. He knew that they didn't want to part from one another. But it was inevitable and they would have to part regardless. So what was the point in making this any more difficult than it had to be? "I have to go home, and you have to stay here. Don't make this harder than it has to be, okay?" Tsukishima said in as serious of a voice as he could manage.

Taking a moment to process what Tsukishima had said, Kuroo nodded and blinked with a sigh, agreeing not to make this harder for either of them. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs at that moment. He also wanted to cry about the situation they were in and wished there was a way for the pair to make this work. But Tsukishima was right, Kuroo didn't need to make this harder.

The time was still early and the two boys had another few hours to waste together before Kuroo had to take Tsukishima to the airport. "Can I at least have your number so I can text you random pictures and we can keep in touch?" Kuroo asked quietly, the hope in his eyes had been very obvious.

That was the thing though. This situation was one that the two boys shouldn't have put themselves into, as they were definitely bound to get hurt. It was also very unlikely that the two boys were going to get the chance to see one another again. Having to go from seeing each other in person to long distance really did not work for Tsukishima. If he started a relationship online and kept in contact with them, it was different. But having already seen Kuroo in person, Tsukishima wasn't too sure that he would be able to handle text messages from the man. He wasn't too sure that he would be able to keep contact with Kuroo and not long for more.

With a breath, Tsukishima shook his head. "We can't, Kuroo. We were... just a fling. We can't pretend this was more than that. We have to go back to our normal lives," Tsukishima said. His eyes closed again as he felt a tear escape from his eye, running down his nose and dripping off of his skin.

There was an unsettling feeling that had developed between the two boys. Of course, the two boys knew this had to come to an end. Tsukishima was just making sure that it was actually going to end, rather than a fake ending where neither boy would be happy if they tried to keep in contact and pretended that everything was okay while they texted one another. If they had tried to keep in contact, Tsukishima wasn't sure he would be able to hear about the next person that Kuroo had tried to seduce or had a fling with. He knew that Kuroo had said that this was the very first fling that he had ever been in, but Tsukishima wasn't sure he would be ready to hear that Kuroo had found someone else to have a fling with.

That was when Kuroo took a breath and adjusted his hand to wipe the tears from Tsukishima's nose and skin. "Okay, yeah, I guess that is fair. We should probably get you packed up, then," Kuroo had said sadly and a bit dryly as he pulled his hand away from Tsukishima. Not that Tsukki had wanted Kuroo to take his hand away, but he knew it had to happen. He really just wanted to be okay after all of this was over, so parting sooner rather than later would be for the best. He wanted to survive when he went back to his real life.

As the two boys had climbed out of bed and they had started to get dressed for their final few hours together, the silence had settled over the room once again. Really, none of this was okay. Nothing about this situation was right. But it was a situation that the two boys had put themselves in, so they would have to deal with the consequences.

Taking a little while to pack his bags, Tsukishima had to pack up his suitcase with his clothes and the few other things that needed to go in there, like his medications and other things. He left out all of the trinkets and memories he had gained over this last week with Kuroo, as he was absolutely positive that his friends would want to see all of this stuff. If his suitcase managed to get lost too, he would still have all of this stuff with him. That was the real worry. He wanted to hold onto these memories more than anything, so he was keeping them with him.

Eventually, Tsukishima finished up packing with Kuroo's help. He smiled to watch as Kuroo had started to strip down the bed and he started to clean up for the house keeper that would have to come back to clean the room. That was when Kuroo looked up to Tsukishima and gave him a genuine smile. "Let's get out of here."

They went to go lounge in the bar for a little while, deciding that they really had no time to go out and explore more of the city. They figured it would be best if they just relaxed and sat together, laughing at the things they found on their personal social medias that they would share with one another. They also spoke about what Tsukishima would do when he got back, and what Kuroo would do when Tsukki left. It was an uncomfortable conversation, but they both wanted to make sure that the other was going to be fine without having each other there.

The final hour came when Kuroo had to take Tsukishima to the airport and the tension that sat between the two boys was very thick. It was so thick that it was nearly suffocating to the two boys. They sat in the car that Kuroo had parked in the parking garage, even though Tsukki yelled at him for wasting his money, and they looked towards one another at the same time while they sat there. "So uh... hey, I picked you up something while we were out shopping this last time," Kuroo said quietly as he fished into the back seat of his car, reaching for a black bag. It was a bag that Tsukishima had recognized from their last shopping trip, but he didn't bother asking Kuroo what he had gotten.

When Kuroo had gotten into the bag, he took a breath and looked at Tsukishima. "Hold out a wrist," Kuroo said. Raising an eyebrow, Tsukishima slowly held out his left wrist and he felt Kuroo hold onto it for a moment, smoothing his finger over Tsukishima's skin before he settled something on it. It took a moment, but Kuroo pulled back his hand and he gave Tsukishima back his wrist. "You told me a few times that you love dinosaurs, so I thought I could give you something else with a dinosaur on it. You don't have to wear it, but... I thought you might like it. I'm hoping you do, anyway," Kuroo said as he looked at Tsukishima.

As Tsukishima pulled his wrist back, he examined the [leather bracelet](https://i.etsystatic.com/13414135/d/il/516048/1533839054/il_340x270.1533839054_capi.jpg?version=0) that was now on his wrist, and his eyes went to the gleaming golden charm that hung from it. The charm was a stegosaurus, and it was gold in color. A smile started to grow on Tsukishima's lips and felt the tears start to gather in his eyes once again. They were tears of happiness this time, but they were starting to turn into ones of sadness. "You asshole..." Tsukishima whispered before he dropped his wrist and used his other hand to wipe at his eyes under his glasses.

That was when he felt a hand on his cheek once again, and Tsukishima looked up to see Kuroo's face. They both leaned in and connected their lips together, kissing once more. The moment was right for a kiss. It was right because both boys had wanted to part on a good note. It felt like an eternity that the two boys were kissing. Their lips worked in sync with one another and they were just soft, smooth movements of showing their feelings towards each other.

Eventually, they had to pull apart. "Thank you for the bracelet..." Tsukishima said quietly before he pulled back in his seat and looked down at his wrist, smiling at the jewelry on his wrist now.

They both climbed out of the car and Kuroo pulled Tsukishima's things out of the back. He carried them inside the airport for Tsukishima and they stood off to the side, closest to where Tsukishima had to go for his flight, allowing others to get by so they could stand there with each other. "So this is really goodbye, huh?" Kuroo asked quietly as they looked at one another.

Tsukishima nodded. "Yeah, it's really goodbye..." Tsukishima said softly. Kuroo pulled the handle up on the suitcase so Tsukishima could pull his bag to go get it checked. He also settled Tsukishima's carryon bag onto his shoulder, allowing the boy to adjust it how he wanted it. The two boys looked out the window and blinked out at the commotion that was happening outside. They wished that they could be part of all of that commotion and this wasn't the end of all of this. But unfortunately, it had to be the end. "Thank you for the fun this week. I had a good time," Tsukishima said genuinely as he looked back at Kuroo. He was trying to commit Kuroo's face to memory as he started to fidget with the bracelet that was now decorating his wrist. He loved the feeling of the weight around his wrist and he was happy to know that Kuroo was thinking enough to get him something like this.

A sigh left Kuroo's lips as he looked at Tsukishima again. But he smiled a small smile, nodding to the slightly taller boy. "Yeah, it was fun. I'm glad you had a good time, but I'm sorry that you won't get to disappoint your friends now. I hope they're ready to see you and I hope they realize how good they have it with you, getting to have you around all the time," Kuroo said and it seemed that the comment was meant to show that Kuroo would miss Tsukishima. He was just glad that Kuroo didn't come right out and say that he would miss Tsukki. That was a relief.

Either way, the time was coming that the two boys would have to part from one another. "Alright, I should get going. Don't be too much of an idiot out here in Tokyo. Don't get into too much trouble," Tsukishima said with a tease, trying to make their parting from one another a little more lighthearted.

Shrugging, Kuroo started to walk with Tsukishima where they would have to split. "Who is going to stop me if I do?" Kuroo asked with a wink before he took a deep breath. It wouldn't be Tsukishima, so hopefully Kuroo really wouldn't get into trouble. Now Tsukishima had something to worry about. "Have a safe flight. Thanks for the fun week," Kuroo said.

Finally, the two boys parted with another gentle kiss. Kuroo walked backwards out of the airport, keeping his eyes on Tsukishima until he couldn't see him anymore. Tsukishima went through to check his bag and watched as his carry on had gone through the scanning system. He put his shoes and jacket back on after it went through the machine, and grabbed the bag. Once he grabbed everything else, he grabbed his new leather corded bracelet, smiling fondly at just how thoughtful Kuroo had been for this lovely gift.

There was really only a half hour before Tsukishima had to board his flight, so he stared out the window and wondered just how terrible this situation would be once he got back to his friends.

The flight back home was smooth and it was relaxing, but Tsukishima couldn't get his mind off of Kuroo and how much he was going to miss the man. The thing was, Tsukki really would miss Kuroo, but he wouldn't let himself say it out loud. He couldn't wait to see his friends and tell them all about his experiences, and show them the souvenirs that he had gotten. He couldn't wait to tell work that he needed a break because that was something that Kuroo had beat into him. He needed to have more fun while he was home, living his life. But he also wished that he didn't have to come home. Or at the very least, he wished that Kuroo could have been in the seat next to him, rather than some man that smelled like tobacco and looked like a miserable business person. That was something he didn't want to turn into, which was exactly what his friends had been hoping for as the outcome of this whole vacation.

As Tsukishima climbed out of the plane and he went to baggage claim to go grab his suitcase, he was greeted by a familiar face that gave him a grin when he pulled his bag off the conveyor belt that was carrying everyone's bag from off the airplane. "Welcome back home," Yamaguchi said as he threw an arm around Tsukishima's back.

Giving Yamaguchi a hug back, he smiled back at his friend. "Thanks. It's nice to be home. But... I definitely have a lot to tell you guys," Tsukki said with his own smile. He looked down to his suitcase and he handed Yamaguchi his carryon bag, because the boy looked like he was going to combust if he couldn't help Tsukki in some way.

The pair of boys walked out of the airport and went to the parking lot. "We missed you. I know everyone will be waiting to hear how the vacation went when we get back," Yamaguchi said as he put Tsukishima's carryon bag in the back of his car, motioning for Tsukki to get into the passenger seat.

Before he knew it, Tsukishima was back at his apartment. It was around six at night when everyone had shown up for their gathering, and they were there to ask how Tsukki's vacation was and for Tsukishima to fill them all in. They were all sitting around in Tsukishima's living room and waiting for Tsukki to start with the explanation.

Finally, the pizza had been passed around and everyone had drinks. They were ready to party and discuss the vacation that they sent Tsukki on. That was what everyone had been there for, anyway. Taking a breath and starting to shift in his seat, Tsukishima looked at everyone and he saw that everyone was staring at him. Their eyes were all prodding him and egging him on to start talking about his vacation. "Okay, so when I first got there, I was determined not to do anything, and I was trying to make written notes of things to bring back to work that I knew I needed to work on. But then I got thinking... you all would find those notes, and by the time I got back, the company would be working on something new anyway," Tsukishima said with a sigh. "So my original plan fell through, sadly enough."

The rest of the group laughed and Tsukki smiled at their collective laughing and joy. He really had missed his friends a lot. Not just from the vacation, but he missed them while he was busy with work and hadn't spent time with them. So as much as he wanted to prove his friends wrong about this vacation and prove to them that it wasn't going to work the way they wanted to, it was going to have the exact outcome that they were hoping for. "So then what happened? Don't tell me you actually went out to go have some fun," Nishinoya said as he sat forward, leaning in for further conversation. The rest of the group's attention went back to Tsukishima and they all seemed to smirk at Noya's comment. They were beyond curious too, to see if Tsukishima had actually enjoyed his vacation.

Making a face at Noya's comment, Tsukki cleared his throat and took a breath. "Actually, I _did_ have fun, thank you very much. But it might not have been the kind of fun that you all wanted me to have. I wasn't just going to go out into Tokyo by myself when I really had no idea what was worth doing. I hate the idea of exploring by myself. What fun would that be?" Tsukki asked.

When the group started to murmur and make comments that they would love the chance to go out and explore Tokyo on their own, Tsukki sighed. "I met this guy, and... he took me out and around Tokyo, since he knew all of the places to go and he lives in Tokyo," Tsukishima said as he started to think back to all of the fun that he had with Kuroo that week. "We only started to go out the second week of the vacation, because that was when I realized I wasn't getting out of any of this," Tsukishima said with a shrug. "But it was fun. I enjoyed it all," Tsukishima said. He subconsciously started to play with his new bracelet, rolling the leather underneath his finger.

"What kind of things did you do?" Hinata asked with curious eyes. Everyone seemed to nod to Hinata's question, wanting to know what Tsukki had done.

Taking a breath, Tsukishima reached into his bag and he pulled out a few different things. The first thing he pulled out was the tiger hat, and everyone laughed as Tsukishima pulled it over his head and put his hands in the little side flap mittens that hung from the hat. "Wow, to think that you'd be willing to wear that... You definitely needed that vacation," Yamaguchi said as he smiled to Tsukishima.

That was when Tsukishima nodded in agreement. "I got this in the gift shop at the zoo we went to. Or well... He bought it for me," Tsukishima said quietly with another smile on his face. He pulled the hat off and he took out the next thing. He had put his picture he took with Kuroo in an envelope, so he pulled the picture out and handed it to Yamaguchi, who was the closest to him. "He then convinced me that we should take pictures together. I told him I wasn't going to take any on my phone and I was only going to take one picture from the purikura booth home with me. He took the rest of them that we got at the booth. Or..." Tsukishima looked further into the envelope and he stared at what was inside. "Wow, I hate him..." Tsukishima said softly as he slowly pulled a few smaller strips out. Tsukishima took a big one with him, but Kuroo must have shoved a few more inside when he wasn't looking.

Kageyama hummed as he looked up to Tsukki, clearing his throat while he held onto the photo. "He's the guy with the black hair here?" he asked. Yamaguchi nodded slowly and then shook his head after. It was a dumb question for Kageyama to ask, but it wasn't like Kageyama knew him, so he had to be sure.

Being too busy looking at all of the other pictures that Kuroo had shoved inside the envelope, Tsukki slowly realized that Noya had handed him the picture back and he took a breath. "Oh, uh... yeah, so I just... He must have slipped pictures in while I wasn't watching. Anyway. We... went to go see the Tokyo tower and I have pictures from that. Here," Tsukishima said as he pulled out his phone and passed around the phone for everyone to see. "Then, uh... we went out to eat a lot, we went to a fun comedy show..." Tsukishima was distracted a bit as he looked through the pictures, and he wasn't giving his friends the details they were looking for now. But he honestly just couldn't care at the moment.

Taking a breath, Tsukishima finally let Yamaguchi look at the photos and Yams started to laugh at the poses that Kuroo had made Tsukishima get into. They were the most ridiculous poses out there, Tsukishima thought. But they were definitely some fun pictures. Tsukishima just wished that Kuroo hadn't done this, and he wished that the man had just kept them all for himself. It was a very unwelcomed surprise. Then again, it was a nice surprise on a deep, subconscious level. He wasn't expecting this, but he was definitely happy to have them now. It certainly made Tsukki miss Kuroo more, though.

The pictures were all passed around and Tsukishima continued his stories of the vacation. He left out the fact that he actually slept with Kuroo - both sexually and physically slept in the same bed - on the vacation, but he didn't need to tell his friends who he slept with because it was really just none of their business. He wouldn't expect his friends to share who they were sleeping with with him, even though Tsukki knew who all of them were sleeping with right now. Hinata and Kageyama were together, Yamaguchi had a girlfriend who Tsukki was pretty sure he was sleeping with by now, and Noya was with his longtime boyfriend Asahi.

It was a long while before the conversation of the vacation had died down and they were back to talking about their usual stuff. Tsukishima was a bit distracted during this conversation, because he really had no clue what they usually talked about. Finally though, Yams asked a question that all of the boys wanted to know the answer to. "So, Tsukki, even though we missed you while you were on the vacation, I want to know... Are you going to relax a bit at work? Are you going to let us back into your life and spend more time with us?" Yamaguchi asked and everyone turned their attention back to Tsukishima.

What an unfair question. Tsukishima sighed a bit as he put his hand over his face and he let out a groan. What was he supposed to tell them in response to all of this? He did miss them, but work was just too important to him to just be lazy or relaxed like some of his coworkers were. He just couldn't let his work sit for days at a time, and he hated when cases went untouched for more than a couple of days.

But his friends did have a point. There was being too lazy, and then there was working too hard. Tsukishima definitely did work too hard and he needed to learn how to relax. He needed to learn that having fun with his friends was important occasionally and he needed to know that he could definitely take breaks. It wasn't the end of the world if he decided that he needed to take more than three days to finish a case, or he needed to pass the case to one of his lazy coworkers. "I... will let you guys back in, and I will start to relax at work. I won't work myself to the bone anymore," Tsukishima replied. Apparently, this had been the news of the century, because the boys had started to cheer and get a little too riled up about all of this.

They settled down, but it seemed like everyone really was excited at Tsukishima's response. "But don't be surprised if I don't come back right away. Don't be surprised if I take a little while to start settling down at work, just so I can wrap these two cases up that I have already started. Unless they have already finished them for me. Then... You'll start seeing me at weekly game nights then," Tsukishima said with a bit of a shrug.

That caused the boys to get a little riled up too, and Noya and Hinata started to fake wrestle. They were definitely getting rowdy and Tsukishima was regretting telling them that he was going to start letting them back in. But he wasn't just going to take it back. He was a stubborn man and he was definitely going to stick to his word. If only because he didn't want to disappoint his friends for any reason. Everyone seemed to be thrilled at Tsukishima's response though.

Eventually, things settled down and the five boys just started to talk about the things that Tsukishima had missed while he was on vacation. Tsukishima was surprised to hear that his next door neighbors were back home, as he had heard that they were supposed to be leaving soon, moving to a new location. He was also frustrated to hear that Yamaguchi and his girlfriend had broken up because his girlfriend had decided that she was in love with someone else. It was definitely a hard thing to hear, but Tsukishima knew that Yamaguchi would bounce back.

"So, that guy... are you going to get together with him and start dating?" Noya asked with a tease to his voice. Hinata let out a laugh and he shook his head.

Tsukishima looked down when Noya started to condemn Hinata for laughing. "No, it didn't feel right. I mean... I guess we had our fun out there, but it was just a fling. It really couldn't be more than that. At least, I wouldn't let it be more than a fling," Tsukki said softly, reaching for the photos once again so he could get a glimpse of Kuroo. He really did miss the man kind of terribly.

It seemed like the mood of the room had definitely changed, and Tsukishima could feel it. "Why not though? Long distance relationships can work. Hinata and I did it for a year," Kageyama said.

While it was true, long distance relationships definitely could work, Tsukishima just didn't feel right about doing one in this specific situation. "I think it's a little different. You and Hinata have known each other for years and when you had to work apart for that year, you knew you could make it work. But I had just met Kuroo. We both have jobs, and it would be hard just to uproot one of our lives to go live with someone we barely know to start a relationship, and... if we went long distance for a while, it would feel like too much. I had been with Kuroo in person at first and if we went to not being able to see each other in person for a while, I don't think I could do it. Just because it would feel... like we were trying to preserve the memories we created out on the vacation, but those memories are definitely all gone. Since we were never technically dating, I don't know that I could do it..." Tsukishima said with a sigh.

The new feeling in the room was sad, but Yamaguchi put his arm around Tsukishima's shoulders. "You know yourself best. So if you don't think you'd be able to do it, then it's best that the two of you didn't do it. Are you going to keep in touch with him at least?"

With a wince, Tsukishima slowly shook his head. He knew that this was as far from ideal as he could possibly get, but Tsukishima just simply swallowed and he looked at the group. "It would be too much to keep in contact with him. I would miss him too much," Tsukishima said glumly as he looked down. He then looked down at his new leather corded bracelet and started to play with the dragon charm on it. "It was a good fling, it was a fun week I had with him. But... that's it. It can't be more than that," Tsukishima said.

When the group seemed to nod and understand where Tsukishima was coming from, Kageyama and Hinata stood up with a stretch and a yawn. "We should probably get home, since we both have work tomorrow," the pair of boys said and they waved to the other three boys before they let themselves out after their goodbyes with everyone. 

Noya decided to leave too, following after the other two after only a few minutes. Yamaguchi was the only one that remained, but that was fine with Tsukishima, as Yamaguchi was his best childhood friend. "So, you've been playing with that bracelet all night. Let me guess... He got it for you, huh?" Yamaguchi asked with a raised eyebrow and a bit of a smirk on his face.

It was a bit surprising that Yamaguchi was okay with talking about things to do with relationships when his own relationship had ended not too long ago. But it wasn't really a relationship that Yamaguchi was talking about, as it was just a fling. Maybe that was why he was okay with it. "Oh, yeah. He uh... He kind of surprised me with it today when he dropped me off at the airport," Tsukishima said with a bit of a wince. He missed Kuroo and he wished the man was there right now, but that was just a pipe dream that he had.

Smiling, Yamaguchi looked at the bracelet. "It's a nice bracelet. He certainly knew what kind of bracelet you were likely to wear. I'm guessing that he did this on purpose so you would actually wear it." At that time, Yamaguchi had taken Tsukishima's wrist and he had started to examine the material. "It is a nice bracelet. It's made nicely, and the charm is cute. You obviously admitted to him that you have an obsession with dinosaurs."

With a scoff, Tsukki pulled his wrist away from Yamaguchi, who was giggling by now. "I do not have an obsession with them, asshole. I just like them a lot, okay?" Tsukishima said in a very defensive voice, crossing his arms.

A giggling pout left Yamaguchi's lips. "Okay, alright. You're not obsessed with them. Kind of like you're not obsessed with strawberry shortcake. Totally not obsessed with either of those things," Yamaguchi said. He had apparently had just a little too much to drink at that point.

Tsukishima started glaring at Yamaguchi in that moment. "Okay, I might have an obsession with strawberry shortcake. But that's different. It's delicious," Tsukishima said as he crossed his arms, letting out a bit of a huff as Yamaguchi laughed.

Things started to get quiet between the two of them and Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi with a sad look in his eyes. "So... what was it that caused you two to break up? Were you two just not working out anymore? And how in the world did she fall in love with someone else while you two were dating? Yamaguchi, I know you have picked up some of my sarcasm, but honestly... you have to be one of the nicest guys I know. I don't get how or why she would want to fall in love with someone new," Tsukki said, trying to defend his best friend.

That was when Yamaguchi sighed. "I don't know. I think part of it had to do with how pushy she was about wanting to have sex... And don't get me wrong, I wanted to have sex. But with her, it just didn't feel right. We slept in the same bed, and I would try to get sexual with her, but she would either get too pushy or too bossy, and it was a turn off for me," Yamaguchi said with another sigh.

Taking a moment, Tsukishima sighed a bit in response. "She was kind of pushy. I was going to tell you sooner, but I just figured it would come off badly from a person that really hardly spent time with you guys. Every time I spent time with you guys though, it really did seem like you two were either bickering or she was telling you to go do things for her... That's just not you, Yamaguchi. You need someone that respects you," Tsukishima said with a bit of a sad smile. "You deserve respect too."

That was when Yamaguchi nodded. He knew that Tsukishima was right and that he needed to find someone that respected him, but he also needed someone to be there for him when things were tough. Tsukishima loved Yamaguchi, so he hated to see him struggling like this. "You know, whenever you need to, you can stay over here," Tsukishima said as he smiled softly and sadly to Yamaguchi.

With a sigh, Yamaguchi nodded to Tsukki. "Thanks, I appreciate it. She hasn't fully moved out of my place yet, so it's hard to see all of her stuff there. But you know what? Maybe I'll just take my own name off the lease and let her deal with the rent," Yamaguchi said with a bit of a shrug.

Having time to talk to his best friend like this actually did feel good. He knew that this was exactly what his friends had wanted from this whole vacation and wanted Tsukki to finally let them back into his life and wanted him to be more involved in theirs. The thing was, Tsukishima didn't realize just how much he missed all of this. "You might as well. She doesn't want to move out but she wants to move on from you? She's just terrible, Yams," Tsukki said. "Sorry to say, but she's really just a terrible person," Tsukishima said quietly.

With a nod, Yamaguchi was definitely not going to disagree.

The two boys continued to talk for quite a while, going to different topics that weren't involving relationships. Finally, Yamaguchi seemed to be getting tired and needed to get back home so he could at least get some rest. Tsukishima wasn't going to let Yamaguchi drive while he was too tired, so he was pushing Yams to leave so he wouldn't get into an accident. Luckily, his house was only five minutes away by car. "It was nice seeing you. You know, I wanted to say... Thank you guys so much for the vacation," Tsukishima said with a half-smile. He followed Yamaguchi to the door and after a hug, he watched as the boy left his apartment and drove away.

What a day it had been. Earlier that morning, he was in bed with Kuroo. Now, he was meant to take care off all of his things without having Kuroo around. Tsukishima took his bags to his bedroom and he flipped on the light. It was such a different room, but Tsukishima knew that it was going to be different. It was home, after all. Not a vacation hotel room.

As he took care of his clothes and all of the other things he took with him on the vacation, he started to hum to one of the dumb songs that Kuroo had sang quite frequently while out on the vacation. It was a catchy tune, and he wished that Kuroo was here to annoy him with it right now. He took his laundry to the laundry room and he continued to hum the song as he went back to his bedroom.

Finally, it was time to crawl into bed. Tsukishima changed into his pajamas and he stretched a bit before he looked at his bed. That was when he froze though, and he just stared ahead at the blankets and pillows. "Oh... right..." Tsukishima squeaked quietly as he blinked just a bit. "You're not here..." he said into the room that felt a bit too empty. The bedroom was very silent, just a little too quiet, and Tsukishima was actually afraid to climb into it.

Looking towards his bedroom door, Tsukishima thought that maybe it would be better if he slept on the couch that night. He thought that maybe it would be better to stay away from the memories of what was haunting him at the moment. Tsukki really messed up.

But that was when he shook his head slowly and started to walk back towards his bed after he flipped off his light. Climbing into the side of the bed he normally slept on, he sighed just a bit as he pulled the covers over his body and the fabrics swallowed him up. This was going to be a long, hard night. He could already feel it.

The memories were already being cruel by swarming his brain. They were already attacking him and they were already beginning to make things difficult. Tsukishima took off his glasses and set them aside on his night stand before he rolled over and he stared at the empty side of his own bed. Now he was cursing himself for wanting to get a king sized bed for himself. Now he wanted to go back to when he only had a full sized mattress. It was too big. It was too empty.

It was too lonely.

Reaching out to pat the side of the bed that Kuroo would have been on, the side of the bed where Tsukishima became used to having someone sleeping in, he squeezed his eyes closed. It was definitely hard not having someone in that space anymore. It was difficult to know that Kuroo would never be in that space, that he was just going to let Kuroo go and not have him around. "Fuck... where did I go wrong...?" Tsukishima asked himself quietly.

It wasn't long before Tsukishima had shifted over to the center of the bed and he had reached out for the pillows that were on the side of the bed that Kuroo would have been on, had he been there.

With a shuddering breath, Tsukishima let a tear fall from his eye and slide down his cheek. He was hugging onto the pillow that Kuroo would have used, one that he would have been face down in, snoring away into. The one he would have claimed as his own the moment he crawled into bed, and the one Tsukishima would have found pressed to the sides of his face when Kuroo had rolled in his sleep and been face first in the pillow.

Eventually, Tsukishima did fall asleep, but it wasn't without stress, nor without anxiety of the situation he found himself in.

It also wasn't without more tears, and he wasn't proud to say that he sobbed into the pillow that night. He certainly messed up when it came to Kuroo. He certainly messed up when it came to his own personal joy. Why did he have to let Kuroo so far into his life?

Would Tsukishima ever find happiness again? He wasn't sure that was possible without Kuroo being there. He would just have to try his best and he would have to live his life without the raven-haired male.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here goes the angst... Oops?

A large yawn escaped Tsukishima's lips as he looked over his most recent cases for work that he had brought with him. He was currently at home and he took a very needed day off, but that didn't mean that he couldn't get a head start for when he went back to work the following day. But that also meant that Tsukishima was actually _taking time off of work_ , which his friends desperately did their best to achieve. They very clearly succeeded in their venture.

Over the last two years after that oddly long vacation that Tsukishima was sent on, Tsukishima has been adjusting his time at work and his life in general to allow his friends back into his life and he was doing his best to spend time with them. He was at every single game night, he was at his friends' houses more often than normal, and he actually responded to their text messages rather than ignoring them. 

He had a much healthier relationship with work now and it took a while, but Tsukishima realized that taking time off like everyone else did was definitely not the end of the world and he could afford to do such a thing. It didn't change how hard he worked while he was there, but it changed how he viewed things at work and it showed him that work wasn't that important and he needed to focus on the things that were actually important and relevant to his life.

The reason he took the day off of work today was because he was expecting to be doing a lot of work at his apartment. Briefly, he wondered if he was making the right decision. But then he thought that he _had_ to be making the right decision, simply because it was Yamaguchi. What wasn't right about his decisions when it came to Yamaguchi?

Over the past two years, Tsukishima had made many strides with his friends, and that included a new romantic relationship with Yamaguchi. It took a bunch of alcohol and a couple of one night stands with other random people for Yamaguchi to get over his breakup with his girlfriend, and it also took the same thing for Tsukishima to get over his fling and love affair with Kuroo. But after a year and a half, the two boys fell in bed together and they woke up with hesitant smiles and awkward laughs as they remembered the dirty night prior.

Then it happened again. And again. Finally, after it happened for the sixth time or so, they sat down and had a talk about what their relationship really was. So the two boys decided that after a month and a half of sleeping together that they were definitely more than friends and they wanted to try a relationship. It took both Yamaguchi and Tsukishima a bit of adjusting, but they were happy together now.

Now today, Yamaguchi had the day off of work and Tsukishima took the day off as well himself, just because Yamaguchi was moving into his apartment. Yamaguchi had to leave from his own apartment soon anyway, as his lease agreement was up and he would have to move out. So what would be better than moving in with his boyfriend? 

Sure, Tsukishima thought that if it was someone else, things would have been moving far too fast and he would have put the breaks on. But it was Yamaguchi. The two boys had known each other for years, so they were just fast forwarding through the first parts of the relationship. It's not like either one of them cared that they really didn't get that awkward first date anyway, since their first real date wasn't until they had already started to refer to one another as their boyfriend. Tsukishima figured that if he wanted to go through those awkward first date situations again, he wouldn't have started dating Yamaguchi.

It may not have been the best day for the two boys to have started moving Yamaguchi in, as Tsukishima knew that his new neighbors were moving in very soon too, most likely today. He didn't know anything about them and he had no clue when they planned on showing up, but Tsukishima figured that it would all work out. No worry of either side complaining about noise, as they would both be making a lot of ruckus.

As Tsukishima continued to look at his work cases, he finally set them down and shook his head, choosing not to worry about work right at that very moment. He decided that he would worry about work when he went back the following day. Now that he was taking a day off, he didn't need to worry about work things, especially because he would have to get his mind on moving Yamaguchi's stuff in shortly.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Tsukishima heard a knock at the door, just moments after he set down his work case files. He rose an eyebrow though, because Yamaguchi wouldn't just knock. He would let himself in, unless he had been carrying too much to open the door, or he forgot his keys and thought that Tsukishima locked the door after he left to go get things at his apartment. Yamaguchi insisted that he went alone this morning, because he was still sorting through things. Most of the stuff was still his, but Yamaguchi had some things that belonged to his ex girlfriend, and he begged that Tsukishima didn't come over to see the stuff that he had of his girlfriend's still. Yamaguchi was more uncomfortable letting Tsukki see that stuff than Tsukki was to see the stuff himself.

Going to the door, Tsukishima pulled it open and sighed, about to tell Yamaguchi off for forgetting his key again, before he realized it wasn't Yamaguchi. It was a woman, one with short blonde hair that framed her face, and she was wearing a fairly professional suit jacket. She was carrying something and it looked to be a tray of cookies. "Hello?" Tsukishima asked awkwardly as he stood there, looking the woman over.

Not that Tsukishima really paid attention to any of this on a normal basis, but she definitely had a rather nice build to her and a curve to her body that was attractive to most men. But, Tsukishima was in a relationship, so he really didn't pay much attention. "Hi there! I am Tanaka Saeko. I'm moving in with my boyfriend next door and I wanted to introduce myself. I made these cookies back where I was living last in Tokyo and they are only two days old if you wanted them!" Saeko offered up the plate of cookies to Tsukishima, who glanced at them and took them when the plate seemed to be shoved into his arms.

While looking at the cookies, he smiled at how tasty they looked. "Oh, well thank you. I'm Tsukishima Kei, and my boyfriend isn't here right now, but he will be shortly. His name is Yamaguchi Tadashi," Tsukishima said as he took a step out onto the porch and glanced over to the apartment that Saeko and her boyfriend were surely moving into. He looked to see a load of boxes on the front lawn by a moving truck and he smiled a bit, remembering when he had those same struggles with walking up the few steps it took to get into the apartment over and over again. But that was more than three years ago now.

Saeko let out a little bit of a stressed laugh. "I promise that all of that stuff won't be here in a few hours. My boyfriend and I are working on unloading the truck first, and then we will get it all inside, I promise," she said as she rubbed at her arm awkwardly.

With a smile, Tsukishima shrugged a bit. He heard a bit of commotion coming from the truck and wondered if that was Saeko's boyfriend. "No, no, don't worry about it. It's kind of convenient that you guys are moving in today. My boyfriend is actually moving in today too, so it's going to be a bit of a moving affair," Tsukishima said. "But he does't have as much stuff and a lot of his stuff is here already. We're just making it official."

Hearing a grunt come out of the moving truck, Tsukishima raised an eyebrow to the noise before he looked back to Saeko. "Is he okay? Does he need help?" Tsukki asked as he licked at his lips and turned his eyes back to the sound.

That was when Saeko shrugged. "I'm sure he's okay. He's a strong man, so he'll figure it out. I'll be back to help him soon anyway. I hope you don't mind if I come over to bother you a few more times in the next few weeks. I just want to get to know everyone in the neighborhood and I would love to start with my kind next door neighbors," Saeko said with a smile and a bit of a wink.

Huffing out a laugh, Tsukishima heard a bit of a groan come from the truck again. "Saeko, you have so many pairs of shoes," a muffled voice came out from the truck. It echoed in Tsukki's mind and he let out a bit of a laugh at the comment. The voice seemed familiar, but how could it be? Maybe it was just one of those familiar voices.

"Well you have too many books and CDs, asshole!" Saeko called out in reply, but she was still smiling and she turned her attention back to Tsukki. The two of them exchanged a smile and they each laughed at her boyfriend cursing her out from the truck, even though they could hardly hear him from this far away. "He's a nice guy, I promise. He's just frustrated that I came to take a break and he is stuck continuing the unpacking of the truck. Babe, don't be so rude, come say hi to the neighbor!" she called out after.

Biting his lip, Tsukishima shook his head a bit. "No, no, he doesn't have to meet me. He's busy and I'm nothing special. Just a normal gu-"

Tsukishima was cut off by a voice that came from the truck, and it was getting louder as he was coming out of the back and carrying a box. When Tsukishima's eyes caught onto the figure approaching, he couldn't believe his eyes. There was no way that this was real life, right? It had to be just a dream. "I'm busy trying to pile all of your shoes into a box again because your shoes fell out. Apparently you didn't tape it we-..." The voice stopped as soon as he looked from Saeko to Tsukishima.

Memories started to plague Tsukishima's mind and it began its attack on Tsukishima. He had taken so much time to get over certain things and he really had changed for the better. The man that was standing in front of him was the one that changed him and caused the new attitude of Tsukishima's. He was a man that Tsukishima appreciated, but tried his hardest to just forget.

When their eyes locked glances, the two boys completely froze and the world just stalled right where it was. There was absolutely no mistaking the wild head of black bedhead that sat upon the top of his head, and the frame of the boy was both broad, but limber at the same time. Neither boy dared to move and neither boy would dare try to speak at the moment. Thankfully enough, Tsukishima didn't have to speak, because Saeko spoke up for him. "Well, Tetsu babe, I can take care of the shoes. Just come meet our friendly neighbor, Tsukishima. Tsukishima, this is Kuroo Tetsurou, my lovely and darling boyfriend."

Even more thoughts and memories started to assault Tsukishima's mind and he wanted to run away, or wanted to wake up. This had to be a dream, didn't it? He wouldn't believe if it wasn't, simply because there was no way that Kuroo Tetsurou was standing in front of him right now, with his new girlfriend. This was way too unreal. How was this even possible?

The two boys just continued to stare at one another, not moving or speaking. Finally, Kuroo slowly started to walk towards Tsukishima's porch. He set the box down on another box that was sat out on the lawn, and he took a few more steps before he stepped onto Tsukishima's porch and onto the landing. "H-hi, Tsukishima. Kuroo here," he said slowly, eyeing Tsukishima for a moment. It seemed that Kuroo was just as confused as Tsukki was about all of this.

There was screaming going on in Tsukki's mind, and he was trying to have a conversation with Kuroo at that moment. It was not a verbal conversation and it was happening with their eyes. Each boy was searching for something. They were looking for something to say and they were each trying to decide how to approach this whole thing. "Nice to meet you," Tsukishima said softly. 

Neither Kuroo or Tsukishima looked away until Saeko let out a laugh. They both looked at her right then and smiled to her. "So what... exactly made you two move out this way? There's really nothing here, honestly," Tsukki said with a bit of a laugh, rubbing at his arm because he found this situation to be too strange to be true. There was absolutely no way that the man he had been in a fling with back in Tokyo was here of all places, moving in next door.

At the very least, Saeko didn't seem to know what was going on. She just seemed to shrug off the two boys and not notice how awkward it seemed to be between the two of them. "Work has me doing some research out this way. Some sort of marketing project and I'll be out here for another couple of years, so we decided to move out this way. Speaking of work though, you need to get your applications in today, babe," she said as she reached for Kuroo's arm and held onto him.

Although it seemed like he wasn't putting too much feeling into it or wasn't leaning into the touch, Saeko didn't seem to think much of her boyfriend tensing up to her touch. Maybe she just thought that he had been surprised or something. "Ah, okay. That's cool. I hope you enjoy your time out here. I don't want to hold you guys up. But uh... here, let me give you my number in case you need help or you need anything else," Tsukishima said and Saeko reached for her phone quickly.

That was when Kuroo seemed to scoff quietly and turn his head away. Tsukishima couldn't hear what he said under his breath very clearly, but it sounded like Kuroo had said something to the affect of "sure, now you'll give out your number." That was a very fair statement and Tsukishima could feel the stinging bite of the comment. He had a feeling that after that comment, Kuroo was definitely not over what had happened.

When Saeko passed over her phone to Tsukishima and he took it, biting at his lip as he put his number into her phone. She glanced at Kuroo in the moment and rose an eyebrow. "What was that, babe? I didn't hear you," she questioned.

As Tsukishima handed the phone back over, Kuroo looked at Saeko and shrugged a bit. "Oh, nothing, nothing. Just teasing you about getting another number from another guy," Kuroo said as he stuck out his tongue. She repeated the action back to him, and the two of them just laughed it off. Saeko didn't notice that Kuroo's laugh was tense and full of fake emotion, but Tsukki could see it and hear it with everything he had. "I should get back to unpacking, since you're not going to help me and just tell me what to do," Kuroo said as he bumped his hip into Saeko and she scoffed playfully.

They both watched as Kuroo walked off the porch and went back to the truck to climb into it. They had the ramp down for the truck, so that helped, but it still seemed to not be very sturdy. "He's an asshole, but I love him," Saeko said with a bit of a dreamy look to her eye.

When Tsukishima heard the tone to Saeko's voice, he couldn't help but start to feel sick. He nodded slowly and adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, he sure does seem lovable. I'll let you get back to it. I've got to go move things around in my room and closet so my boyfriend can bring his stuff here and have a place for his clothes," Tsukishima said as he opened the screen door and started to walk back inside.

There seemed to be no fight or disagreeing there. "Okay! It was nice to meet you, Tsukishima! I'm sure I'll see you again soon," Saeko said before she walked off the porch to go join Kuroo in the truck.

Daring one last glance was all Tsukishima could manage before he looked back to his own apartment and he took a breath. If this was a nightmare, he would love if he could wake up already and he could hear Yamaguchi's soft, mousy snores. This was just the worst situation he thought he could be in currently. "Fuck..." Tsukishima mumbled as he went back to his bedroom, swallowing back the tears that were threatening to fall.

As he went back to the bedroom, his mind started to play tricks on him and he started to remember everything the two of them did in Tokyo together. He blinked at how they met and how his inebriated state caused him to bravely offer up a proposition to Kuroo. Then he remembered how they met for the second time and it ended up with Tsukishima wanting Kuroo to leave and never come back after Kuroo saw a very naked Tsukki. He could remember every little glance, every little quirk of the lips and the twinkle that was in Kuroo's eyes right then. These were things that Tsukishima had tried to forget, but it very clearly hadn't been lost right yet.

It haunted Tsukishima.

As he went to his dresser to try to clear out space for Yamaguchi, he froze for the second time that day. While moving his socks and underwear into a different drawer, he found the damned tiger hat that Kuroo had gotten for him at the zoo and his breathing started to hitch as he remembered the first time he put on the hat. He had worn it only a handful of times since the day he had gotten it, simply because it was too hard to wear it and remember where it came from. But he did still have it, as a memento from the vacation that changed his entire attitude around.

He then remembered the Purikura booth and he swallowed, knowing that he wouldn't come across those pictures on accident because they were tucked away in a box in his closet. It was a box that Yamaguchi didn't know about. He knew about the pictures, but not the box. Tsukishima kept everything that he held dear to himself in that box and he definitely held those pictures close to his heart. Even though the pictures weren't exactly expected, afterwards, Tsukishima realized after the initial surprise of Kuroo sneaking them into his things just how much he had wanted and needed them. He appreciated the pictures more than he realized, because he looked over the pictures nearly every night after the vacation for the first few weeks that he was home.

The moment that he longed to look at those pictures and moved just an inch towards the closet though, he heard the front door open and Tsukishima flinched. He remembered then what he was doing and he tucked the hat back into the drawer that he claimed for himself and tried to hide it away. He didn't need Yamaguchi to see the hat, because he knew that Yamaguchi knew where the hat came from and Yamaguchi got a bit insecure every time he saw it, just because he wondered if Tsukishima wanted to be back with Kuroo instead of be with him. Not that Yamaguchi ever remembered Kuroo's name, but he still remembered who he was. "Babe, where are you?" Yamaguchi called out through the apartment as Tsukishima continued to clear out space for Yamaguchi.

Taking a breath, Tsukishima didn't realize that he had let his tears start to fall, over the situation he found himself in, until he felt a tear drip from his cheek and onto his hand. "The bedroom," he called out in reply. It was a broken reply, but it was the best he could manage. He knew that Yamaguchi would want to know what was wrong, but he didn't know that he could manage to tell Yamaguchi right now. It would break Yamaguchi and it would make the boy reconsider moving in.

When Yamaguchi came in, Tsukki didn't look up to his boyfriend, because he didn't need to show Yamaguchi that he was actually crying right now. It wouldn't be long before Yamaguchi noticed, but he could try to hide it for now. "I have a bunch of stuff in my car, want to-... what's wrong?" Yamaguchi asked.

What a lost cause for Tsukki to try to hide his tears. The boy had pressed himself into Tsukki's side and he had reached up to wipe at Tsukishima's tears. Tsukki knew that it wouldn't be long before Yams noticed that he was crying anyway, so it was pointless to hide the fact. "Oh, nothing Dashi. I was just cleaning something really dusty and my allergies are acting up I'm pretty sure," Tsukishima said with a shrug, hiding his emotions behind the best fake smile he could manage.

It seemed that Yamaguchi bought that answer and he wasn't going to press Tsukishima any further than that, because Tsukki didn't get more questions about it. "You should go do your nose spray and your allergy pill then, unless you've already done them today," Yamaguchi suggested and he pressed a kiss into Tsukki's cheek.

Wiping at his eyes, Tsukishima shrugged. "I already did, I think that I was probably itching my eye while I had dust on my fingers, so that's probably all this is. But you were saying...?" Tsukki asked, trying to change the topic off of his red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

Letting out a sound of excitement, Yamaguchi smiled and pulled away. "Come on, I have a lot of things to bring in and the new neighbors are out there. We can get to know them better," Yamaguchi said as he pulled on Tsukki's hand and tugged him towards the door of the apartment.

This was getting to be a bit uncomfortable and nothing about this situation was very pleasant. He wanted to get himself out of all of this and he was desperate not to spend time with his new neighbors. One of which was Kuroo, the man he had spent a week long fling with. The other was Kuroo's new girlfriend, and the entire situation brought a whole level of stress that Tsukishima wasn't ready to approach. He really didn't want to be in this situation anymore and he was hoping it was a dream. "Pinch me," Tsukishima said randomly.

With a snort and whipping his head back to look at Tsukki, he grinned a bit. "Now is not the time to be kinky, babe. We're unloading my car," Yamaguchi said as he stepped outside.

All Tsukishima needed to do was help Yamaguchi unload his car and then he could go back inside, where it was safe and where he could avoid Kuroo for a longer period of time. But the moment he stepped outside, he regretted stepping out. Yamaguchi had been smiling at something and Tsukki really couldn't help but look at what he was smiling at. "Oh..." he whispered, realizing what it was.

Looking to where Yamaguchi was looking had been a big mistake. He was now watching Saeko and Kuroo embrace in a loving hug and they were now kissing each other. "I'm going to be sick..." Tsukishima whispered as he turned back around, fumbled with the latch on the screen door, and walked inside to go to the bathroom.

Yamaguchi did seem a bit concerned, but he turned back to smiling at their new neighbors embracing out on the lawn for a moment before he turned back to go inside after Kei. "Kei, baby?" he called out after Tsukki, who was currently in the bathroom.

He was holding onto the toilet bowl and shaking as he sat there. "Fuck... Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Tsukki whispered as his tears started to form again. He clenched his eyes shut as he felt his nausea start to churn around in his stomach at the way that Kuroo had been outside with Saeko. _I want that to be me..._ Tsukki thought unfairly, because he really didn't want to think that way with Yamaguchi. So he leaned forward a bit more and he bit at his lip before he felt a pair of hands on his back, gently rubbing and doing his best to soothe him. They were familiar hands and they were hands he had been used to over the last few months. Usually, they were a comfort.

Tsukishima began trembling and it wasn't long before he actually lost the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl. The stress was boiling over far too much, and had just begun to leak out. "Are you feeling sick? We should take your temperature, babe," Yamaguchi said softly. He continued to rub circles into Tsukishima's back as he sat down behind Tsukki.

But that was definitely not what Tsukishima had wanted. He really didn't want to worry his boyfriend with any of this and he really was positive that he didn't have a temperature to speak of at the moment. He knew that he was fine, or would be okay, it was just going to take some time to get over. "No, I'm... I'm alright. Hey, uh... How about you start bringing the boxes in and we can start unpacking, yeah? A lot of lifting might not be a good idea for me right now, and since my allergies are already aggravated, maybe being outside isn't the best of ideas," Tsukishima said, making up an excuse for his current state.

With a bit of a sigh, Yamaguchi nodded and leaned up to press a kiss to Tsukki's neck before moving to stand. "Alright. I'll be back soon, babe," Yamaguchi said and Tsukki slowly sat up straighter as his boyfriend left. He stood up slowly and flushed the toilet before he decided it would be a great idea to brush his teeth after he had thrown up everything. Then he used a cleaner with bleach in it to cleanse any of the germs that were on the toilet seat before he washed his hands.

When he came back out into the living room, Yamaguchi had already brought in a few boxes and was back outside again. Tsukishima started to lift one of the boxes and he opened it up. Yamaguchi was terrible at labeling things, so Tsukki had no idea what he was opening up. Apparently, it was a box of Yamaguchi's movies and games, so that could stay in the living room for the time being. He was sure the rest of the stuff would have to go to the bedroom, but Tsukishima would wait until Yams was done with unloading his car to decide with that.

It seemed to be taking Yamaguchi a bit longer than Tsukishima would have thought. When he came back in, he was carrying just some miscellaneous things and he had shut the door behind him. "Is that all of it?" Tsukishima asked curiously as Yamaguchi came back in and looked at Tsukki.

That was when Yamaguchi shrugged. "I figured we could unpack this stuff first. I still have a few more boxes, but they can wait," Tadashi said with a shrug. "Oh, you found my box of games! I figured we could bring these all out at the next game night. It sure would be fun," Yamaguchi said as he came closer. Tsukishima was trying to open the next box, unsuccessfully at that.

Yelping at the sharp pinching feeling that he felt in his side, Tsukishima whipped around to look at Yamaguchi with a bit of a glare. "What was that for?" Tsukki asked as he rubbed at the side where Yamaguchi had clearly pinched him.

"Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about," Yamaguchi said. He was oozing with guilt and had a cheeky tone to his voice. "You're the one that was being kinky and asked me to pinch you," he defended. Clearly, he was in a playful mood.

Right then and there, it seemed to snap Tsukki out of all of his stress, because he was on top of Yamaguchi in the next minute and he was holding him down against the couch, pressing his face close to Yamaguchi's while he held his boyfriend's arms above his head. Yamaguchi had let out a squeal, trying to get free, but he was pinned down against the couch where Tsukishima had pushed him down and held him there. "If kink is what you want..." Tsukishima growled a bit before he pressed his lips down into Yamaguchi's. But he didn't stop there. He started to bite on Yamaguchi's lip a little and he pulled back, tugging on the skin and getting Yamaguchi to grunt out a moan.

This really wasn't the time, but this was definitely what Tsukishima had needed. He had completely forgotten about feeling sick just a few moments ago. He forgot about what had made him want to throw up. He forgot that he was stressed and wanted a distraction, because this was all he needed. Yamaguchi was really everything he needed, right?

When Tsukishima pulled back, the two boys looked at one another and they smiled to each other. In all honesty, Tsukishima really did love Yamaguchi. He cared about him and he had been in love with the boy as a friend from the day he had met Yamaguchi. They had just taken their relationship to the next level and that was why it wasn't uncomfortable and it was too easy for Tsukishima to say what he had said next. "I love you," he murmured before he pulled away.

With a smile, Yamaguchi nodded in reply. "I love you too. Now get off of me so we can go finish unpacking my stuff. I have more stuff left at the apartment too," Yamaguchi said. As Tsukishima pulled off of Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi pushed Tsukishima back and tried to do the same thing. But Tsukishima wasn't going to let Yamaguchi in that easily. He turned his head and kept his lips away from his boyfriend to try to be a tease.

It didn't seem like Yamaguchi really cared though, because Yamaguchi didn't kiss his lips. He kissed Tsukishima's neck instead when he realized that Tsukki was keeping his lips away. That was a very dirty move and Yams knew it. Tsukishima's neck was very sensitive and Yamaguchi knew that kissing Tsukki's neck was a surefire way to get Tsukki to be compliant and soft. "Shit... ah, asshole..." Tsukishima said as he closed his eyes, soaking in the feeling of Yamaguchi kissing his neck.

Pulling back and sitting up, Yamaguchi had a very nice smirk on his lips and he shrugged a bit at the asshole comment. "Takes one to know one," Yamaguchi said teasingly. He stuck his tongue out and he cleared his throat before he stood up . "Okay, okay, let's get serious. I don't have all day here," Yamaguchi said quietly before he went towards one of the boxes to open it up and reveal what was inside.

It was clothing, so he pushed it towards the bedroom before helping Tsukishima open up the next box. It was a random box of kitchen cooking utensils. It was a surprise to both of them what they would find in any one of these boxes, because Yamaguchi had nothing labeled. "Huh, I packed that box last week. Oops. Okay, I'll take that to the kitchen. Want to open the other two?" Yamaguchi asked and Tsukishima nodded before he went to the box that was closest to him.

The next box was just more clothing, so he took it closer to the bedroom before he watched Yamaguchi open the last box, which was just books and notebooks. "Let's start unpacking," Yamaguchi said as he went towards the kitchen first. That was clearly what was on his mind first, which was fine. "The new neighbors seem nice. I introduced myself and they told me they met you already. The guy seemed a little... awkward I guess? I don't know, he wouldn't really look at me and he was fidgeting a bit. The girl though, Saeko, she's really nice," Yamaguchi said.

Taking a breath and taking serving spoons when Tadashi handed them to him, Kei nodded. "Yeah, he found a good one," he murmured and he walked to the canister that he kept his cooking utensils in. "They seem sweet though, definitely," Tsukishima murmured before he went back to see what else Yamaguchi was going to pull out of the box.

He handed Tsukishima a couple of bowls and a pan too. "So where do you want these? I know that you're picky about where you put things," Yamaguchi teased as he held up a few dish towels and pot holders. It was honestly a good thing that Yamaguchi didn't hear his inflection with his last comment, because Tsukishima had said what he had in a kind of glum voice. He definitely didn't need to be questioned about anything to do with the new neighbors.

Thinking for a moment, Tsukishima sighed. "Just put them with the rest of mine, alright? They don't have to go anywhere too special," Tsukishima said with a shrug of his shoulders.

That was when Yamaguchi frowned, put the towels and pot holders down, and he came closer to Tsukishima. He came up behind him and settled his arms around him so Yamaguchi's arms were around his stomach. "Maybe I should do this so you can go and lay down, yeah? I don't want to stress you out more than you already are. You're probably sick, so you need a nap or something anyway," Yamaguchi said. He pressed his face into Tsukishima's back and it seemed like he pressed a kiss there, but Tsukki couldn't quite tell.

With a sigh, Tsukishima shrugged his shoulders a bit before he put his own arms against his boyfriend's. "Yeah, maybe. We can do this box and then get your clothes unpacked, then I will go and lay down. Sound fair?" Tsukishima asked. He turned around in Yamaguchi's arms and he reached his own arms up and around Yamaguchi so he could pull him in for a hug.

They stood there for quite some time, just holding one another and being quite content in the embrace they were in. "I love you," Yamaguchi murmured, looking up to Tsukishima, who looked back down and gave Yamaguchi a smile in return.

"I love you too," Tsukishima said softly. There was just something about Tsukki's voice that was very off at that given moment, and that was when Yamaguchi noticed and he gave Tsukki a bit of a frown before he pulled away. "I really do. Let's finish this box so I can help you with your clothes and then I can go for a nap, yeah?" Tsukki suggested.

It only took a nod before Yamaguchi had pulled away and he started in on the kitchen box once more. Once everything was taken care of in the kitchen, though, Tsukishima went to the bedroom and pushed a box into his room. Yamaguchi was right behind him with the other box. "I can do this if you want to lay down and go for your nap," Yamaguchi suggested. "Which drawers did you clean for me?" he asked as he looked at Tsukishima.

That was when Tsukki motioned to the left side of the dresser and started to take off his jeans. He climbed into bed and leaned back into the pillows. "Are you sure you're okay with me napping right now? I don't have to if you want my help with things," Tsukishima said quietly. He was grateful that Yamaguchi suggested a nap, because he could possibly get a cry in and pass out, hopefully to wake up and discover that his new neighbor was _not_ Kuroo Tetsurou. That wasn't likely to happen, but he could hope.

A shake of the head came from Tadashi and he smiled back to Tsukki. "No, Kei, you're okay to take a nap. I promise. I can get everything unpacked and I'll go get the rest of the stuff from my apartment. It should only take another trip or two to grab the rest, since the rest of the stuff belonged to my ex and she's supposed to come by tomorrow to get it all," Yamaguchi rambled as he started to put his clothes in the dresser. "Take a nap, okay? I don't like that you're not feeling well. It's probably good that you took the day off today now, huh?" Yamaguchi said.

_No, it was the worst thing for me to take the day off today_. That was what Tsukishima wanted to say, because he knew that his nausea was caused from his new neighbors, but he didn't need to tell Yamaguchi that and he really didn't need to explain who Kuroo was, just because he didn't need to get into another fight with Yamaguchi and he really didn't need to explain what was causing his mood. "Yeah, I guess so. The nausea came out of nowhere. Didn't realize I was sick," Tsukishima said as he rolled onto his side.

Taking a breath, Yamaguchi came back over to the box, but then ignored the box to sit on Tsukishima's bedside. "I hope it resides soon and I hope you start feeling better. Get some rest. I'll leave any of the boxes that need to come in here to be unpacked for after your nap, okay?" he said and he leaned down to press a kiss to Tsukishima's temple. It was a soft and sweet kiss, and it reminded Tsukishima that he was more than happy with his relationship with his boyfriend. He didn't need to fret about some boy from back in Tokyo, who had his own relationship now anyway. What was the point in worrying over something that wasn't really a problem? It was all out of his control now.

"Okay, babe. Thank you," Tsukki murmured and he closed his eyes, hoping that Yamaguchi would just leave right then. He wanted Yamaguchi to go, just so he could get his emotions off of his chest and he could try to get over the new development that had happened that morning.

That was when Yamaguchi left the room and closed the door behind him. The moment that Yamaguchi had left, Tsukishima could feel the tears begin their paths down his cheeks. "Fuck... Kuroo, I hate you so much... Why are you even here?" Tsukishima whispered and he pulled off his glasses, reaching behind himself to set them on the nightstand before he wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffled a bit. He felt beyond ridiculous.

It was certainly not going to be easy for the next couple of days, that was for sure. But Tsukishima would just have to find a way to get through it all. He was sure he would manage. If not, he was sure he could find a way to come clean to Yamaguchi.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowowow I am so sorry that this update took me so long! I've just been super busy! I hope you all can enjoy this chapter though, because it's an angsty one and I feel bad... Enjoy though!

Things were definitely not okay in Tsukishima's world right now. The following day, after the surprise of who his new neighbors were, Tsukishima went back to work and he figured that the more time he spent at work, the less time he had to worry about who his new neighbors were and what they were doing. It was less time he had to spend watching them through his living room window or spend hearing Yamaguchi talking about them. What was it about them that caused Yamaguchi to want to talk about them? Tsukishima was at a loss there. There really wasn’t anything too interesting about them, except for maybe Kuroo’s hair.

It was during his lunch that Yamaguchi had sent him a message, asking if he was feeling okay. Tsukki really did have a caring boyfriend and he loved the boy almost more than anything else in the world. Yamaguchi was probably worried after how he had gotten sick yesterday. The problem was though, the more Yamaguchi brought up how he was feeling was the more Tsukishima thought about what was causing his nausea in the first place. It was Kuroo and Saeko that caused the nausea. While Yamaguchi thought they were a cute couple, Tsukki didn't want anything to do with them and desperately didn't need to be reminded about how they made him feel. That was all Yams was doing by bringing up how he was feeling. He was reminding Tsukishima about how they truly made him feel. It was kind of miserable the more he thought about it.

He messaged Yamaguchi back and told him he was fine, because he wanted to hopefully stop bringing up the topic of how he was feeling. He wanted to forget. He needed a distraction. Work usually worked for a distraction, so he threw himself into a project and didn't check his phone for the rest of his shift.

Unfortunately, not checking his phone meant that he really had no clue what time it was and he didn't realize he had been working late. It took four frantic messages from Yamaguchi before he picked up his phone and called him, trying to ease his boyfriend’s troubled mind. "Hey babe, sorry I'm not home yet. I lost myself in a work project, didn't realize what time it was. I'll be back soon though, I'm going to leave now," Tsukishima told Yamaguchi, hoping that he would believe that and not be too mad. It was the truth, so why wouldn't he? Although, Yamaguchi would want to know why he had lost himself in a project and then he would try to dissect this into being more than it really was. That was not what Tsukishima wanted, and he couldn't handle talking to Dashi about all of this right now.

When Tsukishima got home though, he was thankful that Yamaguchi seemed to let it slide this time. Kei would have to be careful about staying late at work if he wanted his boyfriend to stay unsuspicious about all of this. So, Tsukishima went to work the following day and he tried his best to stay on top of the time to make sure he wasn't home late that night.

But unfortunately, once again, Yamaguchi actually had to call Tsukishima at work because he just wasn't checking his phone and he really had no clue what time it was. He didn't want to think about the time. He didn't want to think about having to go home to potentially see that head of tangled bed head and strong arms that were meant to be around him and not this other woman.

"I am so sorry babe, I just... this project it really important and I just have been so focused on it. But I promise you that I will be home soon. It's not so important that I don't want to be home. I'll be back soon," Tsukishima said. He nearly hung up the phone before saying "I love you," but he caught himself in time, said those three words, and went to go wrap up his things quickly so he could get home to his boyfriend.

What was wrong with him? He was making things far more complicated than necessary. He should just come clean to Yamaguchi and tell him why he's been at work so much, why he had been kind of avoiding being home. But that was a conversation he really didn't want to have and didn't want to risk having if it meant a fight between the two of them.

Taking a breath as he pulled into the driveway and he started to get out of the car, he froze as he saw Kuroo standing there, just watching him from his porch. That wasn't what he wanted. That wasn't what he needed. He needed Kuroo to just go back to his life with Saeko and forget about him. Kuroo seemed to cringe before he waved and went back inside his apartment.

Something had to be going on.

When Tsukishima went back inside his apartment to see Yamaguchi, he gave Yamaguchi a very chaste, lacking emotion kiss. Yamaguchi pulled back from Tsukishima and gave him a look, eyeing him and causing Tsukishima to sigh just a bit. What was happening? "Babe... what's going on?" Yamaguchi asked as he took Tsukishima's hands and held onto them, pulling them both over to the couch and taking a seat. "Talk to me. You've been at work, you've been going back to your old habits... Why? Is there something going on that I need to know about? Are you... in trouble at work or something?"

This was not a conversation that Tsukki had wanted to have. Hell, this was a conversation that he never imagined that he would be having. He thought that he was done with his old work habits and he thought that Yamaguchi was the one that helped him break those habits for good when he came back from the vacation. But that vacation was the reason that he had gone back to those habits, and it was a very long and hard thing to be discussing with his boyfriend. "I'm not in trouble, I just... I want to impress my boss. I might be up for another promotion and it would mean that I would have even less hours with more pay. So... if I work harder right now, I can hopefully get that promotion and I can maybe... work less," Tsukishima lied, biting his lip. He wasn’t up for promotion, and he knew it. Hopefully, Yamaguchi wouldn’t find out.

That was when Yamaguchi sighed a bit and looked down to their hands, running his thumb over the top of Tsukishima's hand and squeezing it a bit. "Is it really worth this stress though? Is it worth getting back into those habits?" Yamaguchi asked quietly, frowning a bit in the process. “We’re okay financially and do you really want more responsibility there?”

Tsukki hated to see his boyfriend like this. So, without answering, he leaned in and he kissed Yamaguchi gently, pulling him in for a kiss that held more emotion and love in it than the kiss they shared when he walked through the door. It seemed that Yamaguchi had believed this kiss and Tsukishima was grateful for that, needing to know that his boyfriend was still going to be there for him. He needed to know that Yamaguchi was going to continue to be his rock, because he didn't want to lose his lover. It was such a hard situation he was in right now.

Once the kiss was finished, Yamaguchi had pulled away and he gave Tsukishima a sad smile. Tsukki wasn't too sure what that look was for if he were being honest, as the kiss was much better than earlier. But he wasn't too sure that he wanted to know what the look was for, either.

Yamaguchi was certainly going to tell him though. "So I take it that it's worth it to you. That's why you don't want to answer the question. I get it though, it's hard to break those habits I guess. I just thought I had helped you break the habit for good," Yamaguchi said in a sad tone of voice.

With a sigh, Tsukishima looked down. "I will try better, okay?" Tsukishima murmured as he squeezed Yamaguchi's hand, who had then pulled away from him.

"Thank you. Oh, Saeko invited us over for a game night tomorrow. I told her we could be there. She said any time after six is fine," Yamaguchi said with a smile. He then stood up and he went to the kitchen.

Tsukishima froze. Saeko did what? Why in the world would Yamaguchi say yes to this? Maybe it was because he didn't know how Tsukishima felt about their new neighbors. Maybe it was because Yamaguchi had no idea who Kuroo was to him and how much he didn't want to spend time with their new neighbors because of that fact. "Yams... I don't know if I can just... I know I said I would try, but this project is so demanding at work. I might not be able to make it home in time even if I wanted to," Tsukishima lied.

At that moment, Yamaguchi came back out from the kitchen with a mug of tea. "Tsukki... I really like our neighbors, and I want to make a good impression on them. I don't want to back out of this." Yamaguchi took a sip of his tea and made a face to signal it was still too warm to drink.

Groaning a bit, Tsukishima stood up and he shook his head a bit. "Babe... listen, I know you want to make a good impression on them, and I know you like them, but... having to turn down one offer for a gathering isn't going to make much of a difference. We can just tell them that we have too much going on, or you can blame it all on me and work," Tsukishima said as he stepped closer to Yamaguchi. That was an amusing thought for Tsukishima. How could Kuroo take it if Yamaguchi had given that answer?

The look on his face told Tsukishima that he was going to be sleeping on the couch if he kept this attitude up. With a sigh, Tsukishima looked down and he kicked his food a little, trying to come up with a solution. The thing was though, he didn't think there was going to be a solution that would satisfy both of them.

So Tsukki would just have to bite the bullet.

Taking a breath, he looked up to his boyfriend's freckled cheeks, noting just how sweet and soft his boyfriend was even in a situation like this. He knew his boyfriend could get angry and harsh, but he would always see just how sweet and gentle his lover was. "I will get home by five-thirty, okay? So we can go to game night with them," Tsukishima said, reaching out to pull his boyfriend into a hug.

When Yamaguchi sunk into his boyfriend's arms, it reminded Tsukki just how much he loved his boy and that he would probably do literally anything to keep this boy as happy as possible. Tsukki loved him more than anything, so why wouldn't he try?

The question was though, was it possible that Tsukki could love Kuroo even more? Tsukishima didn’t want to think about that for one second, so he made his mind stop that train of thought.

As they pulled apart, Tsukishima noticed that Yamaguchi had such a brilliant smile on his face and he had been in a much better mood than before. "I love you," Yamaguchi said as he walked back to the kitchen.

"Yeah. You too," Tsukishima murmured, going back to sit on the couch. He hated that he had replied to Yamaguchi like that, but it was a good thing that Yamaguchi didn't seem to notice. It was a good thing that what Tsukki had agreed to had put Yamaguchi into a better mood, so Tsukishima could hide his emotions behind how Yamaguchi was feeling. He hoped that his mood wouldn't set Yamaguchi off any further, or he wouldn't ask why he was feeling this way.

That night, Tsukishima couldn't sleep and he felt sick to his stomach. It was so awful that he had actually gotten up to go get sick. It was even more unfortunate that Yamaguchi had noticed and he had come into the bathroom to soothe Tsukishima. That move had only made Tsukishima wretch even harder, because Tsukishima hated all of this. He also hated that his emotions were strong enough to make him sick.

Eventually, he went back to bed and fell back asleep, his arms wrapped around Yamaguchi. He sat in bed the following morning when their alarm had gone off, just not ready for the day. To be more accurate, he wasn't ready for the night to follow his day.

But, just because he didn't want to piss his boyfriend off, he knew he would have to keep his promise and try his best to not lose himself at work that day. He just hoped his night wasn't as miserable as it possibly could be. He was not excited to spend a night with Kuroo and his new girlfriend. Not even remotely close.

The day was going way too fast. He wanted work to drag on so he could hope that something bad would happen and he didn't have to meet up with the neighbors. He was also hoping that maybe something bad would happen to him at work, so he could have an excuse to actually miss this night.

It didn't seem that Tsukishima was going to get his wish though. It didn't seem like he was going to be able to avoid this night, so he would just have to suck it up and attend this game night, regardless of how he was feeling.

When he pulled into the driveway, he sat in his car for a minute or so, just trying to collect himself. He knew Yamaguchi was inside, preparing some sort of dessert for them all to enjoy, because he had told Tsukki that he was making brownies. Tsukki generally loved Yamaguchi's desserts, but tonight he wasn't sure he'd be able to stomach something so sweet. The only reason Yamaguchi was doing this though was because the neighbors were going to be making dinner.

Finally, Tsukishima went inside his apartment and he slid silently behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him. It caused Yamaguchi to jump, but he sunk back into his boyfriend's arms after that. "You're here. Good. It's nearly six, so I thought you weren't going to make it on time," Yamaguchi said before he turned in Tsukishima's arms.

Taking a moment to kiss his lover, Tsukishima put a lot behind this kiss, because he just needed it right then and there. When Yamaguchi pulled back, he gave Tsukishima a curious look. "Well hello to you too," he said softly, giggling softly afterward. "It's going to be a good night. I can feel it," Yamaguchi said.

Wondering briefly how Yamaguchi could be so optimistic about this night, Tsukishima reminded himself once again that Yamaguchi had no idea who Kuroo was to Tsukki. That was why he could have so much optimism about this night. "Yeah, it's going to be good, because you're going to be there," Tsukishima said.

When he smiled to Yamaguchi, he could see the gentle blush across his cheeks. "That's not the only reason it's going to be a good night. We're going to have fun! Maybe we can bring over a game. What do you think?"

That was when Tsukishima's mind went back to the games that he and Kuroo had played while they were on vacation. Their game of two truths and a lie came to memory and he remembered how that game ended. He remembered how they had kissed that night and how everything had become even more difficult. It was at that point that Tsukishima thought he had made the determination that it was going to be nearly impossible to leave Kuroo during the vacation. "Yeah, we should bring... oh, what's it called? Exploding kittens? They seem like a couple that would like that game," Tsukishima offered up.

Yamaguchi nodded. He pulled away to go look for the game and he had come back when he had found it. "What else should we bring? Maybe a bottle of wine?" Yamaguchi asked as he looked over at their alcohol and hummed. "Or we could just bring something harder over. I don't want to come empty handed."

Letting out a sigh, Tsukishima walked towards the table to take a seat. "We're already bringing a game and dessert. I don't think they'll be upset if we don't bring alcohol too," Tsukki said. If he were being honest, he just didn't want to bring alcohol because he didn't want to risk getting drunk and letting things slip out. He was hoping that Kuroo was feeling the same way about this whole situation.

Taking a bit of a breath as he took a seat, Tsukki watched as Yamaguchi looked over their alcohol before deciding that Tsukki was probably right. "Yeah. My brownies will be enough. Alright, are you ready?" Yamaguchi asked gently.

The truth was, Tsukishima wasn't sure he'd ever be ready for this. He wasn't sure that he would be able to do this tonight. But he was going to try for his lover. He was going to make it work, even if he didn't want to. "Uh... I don't know. Let me just... go change and then I'll be back, okay?" Tsukishima then stood up and Yamaguchi watched him.

Honestly, Tsukishima knew that Yamaguchi wasn't likely to be okay with this excuse. Tsukishima should have changed when he got home, but he was just prolonging having to go over to their neighbors’ house. "Sorry, I just forgot when I got back home. I'll be quick," Tsukishima said.

As he went to the bedroom, Yamaguchi followed him, probably to make sure that he was going to be quick about all of this. Tsukki could have used a minute alone, but he wasn't going to get that now.

When he pulled clothes out of the dresser, Tsukki took off his work shirt and work pants before getting himself changed with a sigh. "Don't go slow for me or anything. I don't want to enjoy watching you change, no," Yamaguchi teased. When Tsukishima pulled his shirt over his head, Yamaguchi was right there in front of him to give him a quick kiss and then step back after.

"Alright, I'm... wait, not quite ready yet," Tsukishima said and he gave Yamaguchi a look to say that he wanted him to stay put. Yamaguchi obliged as Tsukishima came closer. He swooped his face in, bringing it close to Yamaguchi's face and giving him a kiss, which was much more than the peck that Yamaguchi had given him. "I love you," he murmured before he pulled away and smiled.

With a bit of a giggle, a bit of a wiggling movement, Yamaguchi followed Tsukishima out of the bedroom. "I love you too. Let's go have a fun night," Yamaguchi said as he went into the kitchen and grabbed the tray of brownies.

There was no hope that it would be a fun night, and there was no hope that Tsukishima would be able to enjoy himself. All he could hope for now was that he could manage to get through the night. After he pulled on his jacket, he looked towards the door, realizing that there was no point in prolonging the inevitable any longer. So he slipped his feet into his sneakers and he looked back to Yamaguchi. If he had his boyfriend there with him, he would be able to make it through the night. Right?

Once the two went over to their neighbors’ house, Tsukishima squeezed Yamaguchi's hand and he reached a slow hand to press the doorbell. He thought he might as well get it over with.

The door was pulled open, and thankfully, it was Saeko that answered the door. She smiled to the pair and opened the door further. Yamaguchi walked in first, handing over the tray of brownies and smiling. To be polite, Yamaguchi took off his shoes at the door and motioned to Tsukishima to do the same. Honestly, Tsukishima knew that he didn't have to take off his shoes for Kuroo. But maybe Saeko liked to keep things clean and didn't want dirt tracked in all over the apartment. "Welcome guys! Tetsurou is just working on dinner, otherwise he would have answered the door."

Kuroo making food? This would be an exciting adventure. When did he learn to cook? "Thanks for inviting us! Is there anyone else coming? Or is it just the four of us tonight?" Yamaguchi asked as Tsukishima finished taking off his sneakers and walked inside.

Their apartment looked very much like Kuroo. Sure, there were some things that didn't quite fit in the decorating, but everything else looked like it was from Kuroo's mind. Of course, maybe Tsukishima was wrong and it was all Saeko's doing. But from what Tsukishima remembered of Kuroo, their apartment was decorated to fit his personality.

This was dangerous.

"Oh, it's just the four of us. We don't really know anyone else yet. I hope that's okay!" Saeko rubbed the back of her head awkwardly and Tsukishima bit his lip, looking towards the couch. He thought that maybe he and Yamaguchi should have brought alcohol over, because Tsukki was definitely going to need something to distract himself and make him feel at ease about this whole situation. At the same time though, he had to remind himself that having alcohol around Kuroo was a very bad idea. He didn't want to share any of his secrets.

Moving to take a seat, Yamaguchi followed him. "That's fine with us. We will have a good time either way." After speaking, Yamaguchi took a seat next to Tsukishima and he held onto his hand, looking around the apartment. "Their place is looking great," Yamaguchi noted as he looked around, getting a good look at the environment he was in.

Slowly but surely, Tsukishima had a look around as well. He didn't need to see all of the things that he knew belonged to Kuroo, and he also didn't need to guess at the things that he and his girlfriend had bought together. _'Why can't that be me?'_ Tsukishima's mind so rudely thought, and he had to shake his head away from the thought, because he was literally sitting right next to his boyfriend at the time. He didn't need to be thinking about things like this.

"Oh, yeah, it does seem to be coming together nicely, saying they just moved in two days ago. They’ve done a great job unpacking," Tsukishima murmured when he realized he hadn't answered Yamaguchi. "What's for dinner?" Tsukishima asked as he looked to Saeko.

It was right then that Kuroo had come out to the living room and the very first thing he did was give Saeko a kiss on her cheek. It was right after that when he noticed Tsukki and Yams in his living room. He seemed to stop for a moment before he shook his head and smiled to them. Tsukki could tell that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, but it was there. It was a smile. "Oh, I'm putting together a stir fry with chicken and shrimp. I hope Yamaguchi-... I hope neither of you are allergic to shellfish," Kuroo said, catching himself on his odd phrasing right then.

Shaking his head and smiling, Yamaguchi squeezed Tsukishima's hand. "No allergy here. I actually love shrimp, and Tsukki will probably give all of his to me," Yamaguchi said with a laugh. It was how they usually did things. Tsukki didn't mind shrimp, it just wasn't his favorite thing. Yamaguchi would steal it from his plate, so Tsukishima just figured it was easier to give it to him.

"I don't have an allergy, I just don't particularly care for it," Tsukishima said. Kuroo could probably remember that little detail about Tsukki if he tried hard enough. When they had lunch one day, Tsukishima gave Kuroo all of his shrimp because he simply wasn't going to eat it and didn't want it to go to waste. Kuroo had no problems with that at the time.

Humming, Kuroo nodded. "That's why I made some chicken too, because I... didn't know what either of you liked. It's all mixed together though," Kuroo said as he turned to go back to the kitchen. There was tension in the air and Tsukki just wanted to get this night over with as fast as he possibly could. It seemed to be dragging on though, which was very unfortunate for everyone.

At least for Tsukishima it was unfortunate.

Saeko came back out with some drinks for Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, offering them some glasses with very pretty decorations on them. They also had strawberries lining the rims, two of them on each glass, and Tsukishima wondered who had gotten that bright idea. Kuroo knew that Tsukishima loved strawberries, or at least he should have remembered from their fling. "Tetsu said he wanted to try a new drink. It's a little sweet for me, but the strawberries are a nice touch. They tang from them really balances out the sweetness from the alcohol. I hope the two of you are okay with drinking, by the way! We have other things too if you're not," she said as she set the glasses down.

Smiling and taking the glasses, Yamaguchi handed one to Tsukki. "Strawberries, babe! Here, I know you're dying for more," Yamaguchi said as he offered one of his strawberries to Tsukki. "I like strawberries, but Tsukki just loves them, so..." Yamaguchi laughed as he put the strawberry on Tsukishima's rim, right between the first two. “Oh, but we’re okay with drinking! We were actually going to bring some of our own alcohol over. Maybe we will next time.”

"I had a feeling you liked strawberries," Kuroo said as he came back out, holding a tray of some sort of rice cakes or something. "The stir fry is almost done, babe," Kuroo said to Saeko as he handed her the tray.

Hearing Kuroo call Saeko 'babe' was something that Tsukishima didn't need in his life right now. It was almost like a shot through the heart, and it felt like too much at the given moment. But Tsukishima would just have to deal with it. "Oh good. If you two want, we can head to the table! There's a little more room to eat at the dining room table," Saeko said. Yamaguchi stood up and went towards the dining room, while Tsukishima followed.

This night was already not going as planned. Or at the very least, it was not going as smoothly as Tsukishima would have hoped. He wished things could get smoother, or things would just go better from here on out.

But life had seemed to be rude to Tsukishima lately, so there was no hope of that.

As dinner seemed to be finished up and Kuroo had brought the pan out to the table, Saeko was busying herself with setting the table and getting things around. The pair of them worked around one another, but their movements were not very smooth or cohesive. Kuroo would get in Saeko's way, or Saeko would make Kuroo wait. Finally though, everything was in place and Kuroo pulled Saeko's chair out for her to sit.

Afterward, Kuroo took his seat, which was directly across from Tsukki. Of course it had to be that way. Why would it be any other way? Tsukki had to take another drink of his alcohol and he pulled one of the strawberries off to eat.

Once everyone's plates were served, Saeko and Yamaguchi started to eat. Tsukishima looked down at his plate, not feeling the urge to eat at the moment. But he knew that if he didn't eat, Yamaguchi would assume something was wrong and things would become even more awkward. So Tsukishima reached for his utensils and started to push the rice around his plate.

"It's really good," Yamaguchi commented after a few bites. "What's your secret, Kuroo?" Yamaguchi asked.

That was something that Tsukishima had actually been wondering himself. He did want to know where Kuroo learned to cook. Although, Tsukishima had never learned if Kuroo had known how to cook, as Kuroo hadn't tried to cook for him on the vacation. That was just something the two boys didn't learn about one another. "Ah, I've just always loved to cook. I have more free time to do so now. I don't start work for another two weeks, so I'll be spending my time in the kitchen while Saeko goes to work," Kuroo said, glancing at Tsukishima briefly before looking back to his plate.

Yamaguchi nodded at that and continued to eat. Tsukishima took the time to find all of the shrimp on his plate and offered them up to Yamaguchi. "You could try one, you know. Maybe you've just always been cooked bad shrimp," Kuroo said to Tsukishima.

Freezing, Tsukishima took back one of the shrimp pieces and he set it back on his own plate. "I just don't know that I've ever liked shrimp. You should remem-... you shouldn't force people to do things they don't want to do," Tsukishima murmured, then he ate around the shrimp on his plate. He had almost let it slip that Kuroo should have remembered when they had shrimp when Tsukki was on vacation. Luckily, Tsukki had caught himself though.

Sighing, Kuroo looked back to Saeko for a moment. "I didn't mean it like that, I promise. Tsukishima can eat what he wants to, I just... would like if he tried my shrimp too," Kuroo said as he looked back to Tsukishima. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you in any way."

"Sure," Tsukishima murmured before he took another sip from his glass. He was going to need a new one of these drinks very, very shortly. Saeko was right, they were definitely sweet. But Kuroo was also right about the strawberries.

It didn't take much longer for dinner to wrap up and for Yamaguchi to look at Tsukishima with sad eyes. He didn't need to guess what those eyes were for, so Tsukishima sighed and looked back down to the neglected shrimp on his plate. He picked it up slowly before he put it in his mouth and he looked back at Yamaguchi, who smiled back at him in appreciation.

Once tasting the shrimp, Tsukishima noted that it had the same flavor he didn't always care for, but it was definitely nicer than what he was used to for shrimp. So Tsukishima had to put aside his pride for this and he had to admit he was wrong. "The shrimp was decent, Kuroo. I'm sorry for doubting your cooking abilities," Tsukishima murmured before he looked at Yamaguchi to hopefully get his blessing that he did that the right way. The less that Tsukishima spoke to Kuroo, the better he figured. But he supposed there would be no way to avoid it for the rest of the night.

Smiling and nodding his head towards Tsukki, Yamaguchi looked at Saeko for a moment. "Could I help you with the dishes? The least I can do is help you clean up for such a lovely meal," Yamaguchi said as he slowly stood up.

As Saeko finished her sip of her drink, she smiled to Yamaguchi and stood up as well. "I don't want to impose or anything, but if you're offering, sure! Babe, will you take care of the left overs?" Saeko asked Kuroo and he nodded briefly before standing himself, not looking at Tsukishima, and Tsukki had a feeling that things were starting to get difficult for him too.

It was kind of awkward for Tsukishima to just sit all alone at the table, so he figured he would pile up the dirty dishes to make it easier for Yamaguchi to take them back to the kitchen. Though, he would have preferred if he was doing the dishes himself and if he had been given a task that didn't require to be around Kuroo or pay attention to him.

Yams and Saeko had disappeared into the kitchen and Kuroo had come back with a container to put the left overs in. The two boys stared at each other, just frozen on the spot. "Hi..." Kuroo finally said before he slowly moved to reach for the pan of left overs. "I'm sorry this... is so awkward," Kuroo mumbled, quietly that the two in the kitchen couldn't hear them.

"What's awkward? There's nothing between us, so it shouldn't be awkward," Tsukishima said, lying to himself and trying his best to pretend that everything was okay. It wasn't, but he had to find a way to make it through the night.

A gaping jaw and a stare had told Tsukishima that he had hit a nerve in Kuroo. But it was just the truth. There couldn't be anything between them. Just because they had randomly and super coincidentally became neighbors after their fling two years ago, without contacting one another beforehand, didn't mean they couldn't move on from one another or pretend that things were okay. "Oh. If that's... how you really feel, then... okay," Kuroo said as his gaze dropped down to the pan and he started to transfer the remainder of the stir fry into the plastic container.

Sighing, Tsukishima had bit his lip for a moment before he looked down. "Kuroo... listen... You just showed up out of nowhere. It would just be best for us to... forget, okay?"

"Guess that's easier for you than me," Kuroo muttered before he started to walk into the kitchen. That was when Tsukishima let out a soft groan and he stalked off to the living room to try to take a seat and relax. If he were being completely honest, it was probably one of the most difficult things to do and he hadn't forgotten about Kuroo in the slightest. Twenty years, let alone two, would make Tsukishima forget about him. But he had another life that he couldn't just drop, so what was Kuroo expecting him to do?

Taking a seat, Tsukishima pulled out his phone and tried to focus on some work emails so he could distract himself. That was what he really needed, was a distraction. But there was no way he was going to get that distraction any time soon. So Tsukishima had to try to make a distraction work for him. It wasn't like he could focus on work emails for too long, because Yamaguchi would want to know what he was doing and he would get upset at him for checking his work email.

For now, it was the best thing he could do for himself though.

Tsukishima looked up when Yamaguchi came back to the couch and he curled up by Tsukishima. "Tonight is going well, don't you think?" Yamaguchi had a brilliant smile on his face and he nudged his nose against Tsukishima's jaw when he snuggled up closer. Yamaguchi was such a lightweight when he had alcohol. Two glasses of wine, and the boy was completely gone. Who knew how much alcohol had been in those drinks?

A sigh left Tsukishima's lips, but he nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm starting to not feel well, so maybe we should... think about going home early. I'm not saying we have to go right now, but maybe we shouldn't stay for another two hours. Maybe we can get through a couple of games, and then we can head home?" Tsukishima asked gently.

The look on Yamaguchi's face told Tsukki that Yamaguchi was both concerned and frustrated. "Are you sure it's not because you just don't want to be here?" Yamaguchi accused as he pulled away, clearly sobered up just a bit.

"No, no, I don't mind being here, I'm just sincerely not feeling well. Remember, I threw up again last night. But... we will stay as long as you want. I will manage." Tsukishima lied. He really did mind being there, but he couldn't tell Yams that information.

With a bit of a sigh, Yamaguchi looked down at his hands. "I guess... We can judge how many games we play on how you're feeling, okay? I don't want to force you to stay if you're not feeling well," Yamaguchi said softly before he had sat up straighter, smiling to Saeko and Kuroo as they came back from the kitchen.

The pair had gone over to a cabinet and pulled it open, revealing different movies and games. "Tetsu, why don't we... yeah, that one," Saeko said and she nodded.

When the couple turned back around, they revealed one of the funkiest looking card game boxes, and Tsukishima rose an eyebrow. "Okay, so this is one of our favorite games," Saeko said as she came over to the coffee table and pulled over a soft-looking stool. "It seems difficult at first, but you'll catch on after a little bit," Saeko said. "It's a team game, so... to be fair, maybe I should match up with you Yamaguchi, and Kuroo should-"

"I'd rather just try to manage my way with Yamaguchi. I'm sure the two of us will figure it out," Tsukishima murmured, feeling the slight tension that had broken into the air.

Saeko looked at Tsukishima and blinked for a moment before Yamaguchi looked at his boyfriend and frowned a bit. "Babe, come on. We can try their game their way," Yams had said and he had that pout on his lips, the one that Tsukishima struggled to say no to.

His emotions were shouting at him and telling him to say no anyway, but he sighed and glanced at Kuroo, who had wide eyes as well. "Alright, I guess... I can try, sure. You two are the experts I guess," Tsukishima had said as he looked back to Saeko as she pulled out different colored cards, causing Tsukishima to hum a bit in confusion.

The game had started and if Tsukishima were being honest, he didn't know if he was unfocused because of Kuroo, or if the game was just that difficult. Finally, he seemed to catch on and he was actually helping Kuroo, but his moves were still hesitant because he was on a team with Kuroo.

At the end of the game, Kuroo and Tsukki had lost. It seemed to be representative of their situation, because the two boys had lost out on a relationship together, and they had lost out on it to the two that they lost the card game to, but he didn't let that knowledge just sit in his mind. Tsukishima couldn’t focus on it, so he pushed it back to subconscious memory. They played another few rounds of the game, and Tsukishima and Kuroo had actually won the other two times they played. "They're just too good together, aren't they?" Yams had said with a whine.

Tensing up, Tsukishima reached for Yamaguchi's hand, who let Tsukki take it. He didn’t need to hear Yamaguchi say that he and Kuroo were good together. That was not something he could handle. "They are. Maybe they're cheating," Saeko said as she started taking care of the cards.

Kuroo had frowned and he had looked at Saeko. "I would never cheat against you, babe," Kuroo had said softly and he leaned in to press a kiss to her lips.

The couple had kissed for a little while and Tsukishima sunk in his seat, squeezing Yamaguchi's hand just a little too tightly. He yelped and yanked his hand away. "Oh, sorry babe," Tsukki murmured as he looked down to his lap. When they finished kissing, Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi and sighed. "I think it might be time," Tsukishima said quietly and he licked his lips, trying his best to make it through the night. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any hope of that anymore.

"But babe! We haven't played our game yet! It will be fun, so come on!" Yams had said as he went over to his jacket to grab their game. Tsukki had sighed gently, wondering just how much more torture he could take from the night.

When Yamaguchi came back, he revealed their game of Exploding Kittens, and he seemed to have a smirk on his face. "So, this game isn't a team game. But, it's a lot of fun. We can do a round for practice, but it's not difficult to catch on," Yamaguchi said. “Most of the cards have instructions on them, and we’ll explain the ones that don’t have instructions.”

Once the cards were passed around, they explained the game play. Kuroo seemed to be having difficulty looking up at Tsukki and Yamaguchi, but Tsukki was fidgety around Kuroo as it was, so he didn't blame Kuroo for one moment. The game had started, and they all started to throw cards in the middle of the table.

Saeko and Yams seemed to be having fun, and Tsukishima faked a few laughs. Kuroo did the same, and Tsukki could tell that the laughs were absolutely faked. There was no way they were real.

Finally, once they played a few rounds of their game, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima had shared a look that said to Yamaguchi that Tsukki was just done with the night. Kuroo and Saeko shared another kiss and Tsukki wished more than anything that it was his lips that Kuroo had been kissing. But Tsukishima had to push that thought out of his mind very quickly. It was a dangerous thought to have.

As they got their jackets and they put on their shoes, Saeko had gasped. "Oh! The brownies! We never had them, and your pan-"

"The brownies are yours and don't worry about the pan, I'm sure we'll be over again. We should do this again soon!" Yamaguchi had said.

That had to be about the last thing that Tsukishima had wanted. But Yamaguchi had wanted it, so who was Tsukki to deny his boy of being happy? "Yeah... we should. Soon," Tsukishima said.

He certainly didn't mean it, but Yamaguchi couldn't tell that Tsukishima was being sarcastic, which was good. Kuroo could tell and he gave Tsukishima a look, but he smiled down to Saeko just moments later. "Yeah, soon," Kuroo murmured as he wrapped his arms around Saeko.

Tsukishima couldn't get out of that apartment soon enough, but he was glad enough that the night was over. He could have a silent cry at home, alone in the bathroom. He would need it after tonight.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it took me so long to update this! But it's here now! Please forgive me...

Every single morning, every single waking minute, became agony in the eyes of Tsukishima. Lately, Tsukishima was just moving through the motions of being alive. He would wake up, he would have his breakfast, kiss Yamaguchi, and then go to work. He would come home at a decent time, he would have dinner, they would watch a show and Tsukki would fake emotions through it, and then the two would go to bed.

Usually, Tsukishima would try to find a way to spice up their daily lives, or Yamaguchi would try to do the same. Yamaguchi hadn't tried lately, and Tsukishima just couldn't bring himself to move out of his comfortable routine where he knew what was going to happen and how it was going to happen. He didn't want to risk feeling any other feelings or things just falling apart for no reason at all. He couldn't even risk spicing it up in the normal way. Sex just wasn't appealing to Tsukishima.

The thing that Tsukishima didn't know was that Yamaguchi had started to notice things being different for Tsukki. He noticed that he wasn't the same, and his smiles never quite reached his eyes anymore like they used to. He was certainly good at faking smiles with everyone else, but Tsukishima couldn't hide anything from Yamaguchi, as much as he tried.

It was unfortunate that Tsukishima even had anything to hide at the moment. Why hadn't he just come clean? He couldn't come clean now. Wasn't it too late?

When Tsukishima came home, he stayed quiet as he stripped off his jacket and he took off his shoes. He didn't alert Yamaguchi that he was home, and he didn't bother to turn on the television. He just went straight to the bedroom, where he couldn't see out the window to see their neighbors. That was probably the last thing he needed right now. He hadn't heard from them in quite some time, and he wanted to keep it that way. Maybe things could go back to normal and he could block out all of those memories of being in Tokyo again.

Tsukishima sighed as he took a seat on the bed and he took off his glasses for a moment to rub at his eyes. Of course, it never seemed to fail, but Yamaguchi had come into the room at that exact moment. "Hey, babe-... oh, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Yamaguchi asked quietly and he motioned to Tsukki who was rubbing his eyes.

With a sigh, Tsukishima nodded slowly and he stopped rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, just a stressful day at work. Just need to relax. And my eyes were itchy, so that's all that was," Tsukishima said in a dull and grey voice. He was lacking emotion right then. He honestly didn't know if he could manage to fake emotions today. Things were getting too difficult. Yamaguchi only seemed to make things worse, even though he usually made things better.

The more time he spent with Yamaguchi, the more he remembered that Yamaguchi wasn't Kuroo. "Oh, relaxing, huh?" Yamaguchi asked with a hint of a grin in his voice as he started to approach the bed. The brunet took a seat next to Tsukki and he reached for his hand. Tsukki let it lay limply in Yamaguchi's hand for a moment before he glanced at Yamaguchi to see what the deal was.

When Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi to see what was going on, Yamaguchi leaned in and connected their lips. It took a moment for Tsukishima to let himself mold into the kiss, but he eventually did start to kiss Yamaguchi back. It still didn't feel right and Tsukishima was just doing his best to fake his way through this right now.

As the kissing continued, Yamaguchi slipped his tongue into Tsukishima's mouth and tried to push his warm, pink muscle against Tsukishima's to get him to dance a bit. But Tsukishima just wasn't putting the same effort into the kiss. Sure, he let Yamaguchi make the moves, but he didn't have the same energy right now.

That was when Yamaguchi noticed that Tsukishima wasn't quite with it at the moment, so he pulled back and he took a breath. "I'm going to go start dinner. I'll come get you when it's done," Yamaguchi said. He seemed to be a little upset that Tsukki wasn't trying as hard with the kiss, but Tsukki was on auto pilot right now. He didn't know if he could make himself put more effort into anything right now.

Sighing, Tsukishima nodded as Yamaguchi started to walk out. "I love you," Tsukishima called out.

Yamaguchi stopped in his tracks and froze on the spot. There was an aura coming off of Yamaguchi right then and it seemed like he wanted to say something. It seemed like he wanted to start something with Tsukishima, and Tsukishima wouldn't blame him if he wanted to. The aura was screaming the phrase 'are you sure?' at Tsukki, but what he said was not that. "I love you too," he said softly before he walked out of the room to go start dinner, not bothering to look at Tsukishima at his response.

When Yamaguchi was far enough away, Tsukishima groaned quietly and threw himself back on the bed. Why wasn't any of this easier? Why did he have to struggle so much and why couldn't he just be a normal man about all of this? Did he have to keep this secret from his boyfriend?

Of course he had to. He couldn't tell Yamaguchi that the man he raved about for months was now their next door neighbor. The jealousy that telling Yamaguchi could produce, the amount of problems it could cultivate was endless, and Tsukishima didn't want to cause any other problems. He really didn't need to cause more of those issues.

Honestly, Tsukishima didn't want to disappear back into the miserable life he was living. He didn't want to sink back into the nothingness that he was living in before the vacation where he was most focused on work and didn't have time for anything else. He wanted to be part of his life and he wanted to be happy, with Yamaguchi even. Honestly, he would be grateful if that entire fling hadn't happened and it could all just be a dream at this rate. But of course, he then got to thinking that if the fling hadn't happened, he would have come back home and just went back to his boring work routine. He wouldn't have had stories and he wouldn't have bothered making his move with Yamaguchi. So he was grateful that the fling had happened.

After about an hour and a half, in which Tsukki didn't realized he had wasted just laying back in bed, the bed shifted and Tsukishima looked over to see Yamaguchi lying next to him with a sad smile. "Dinner is about ready. Want to come set the table for me?" Yamaguchi asked softly, trying to be soft and cute for Tsukishima.

Taking a moment to think, Tsukishima nodded and he pushed himself up to sit. Yamaguchi sat up with him and tried to lean in for more kissing. Tsukki gave in again, and he let himself kiss back, but it still wasn't right. Finally, Tsukishima put his hand on Yamaguchi's chest and pulled back, a look of guilt written on his face for having to stop this once again. "Dashi... I'm sorry, I'm just... I love you, I do, but I'm just not in the right mood for anything right now. I don't want to think that I don't want to kiss you, but I just... can't put the same energy into it right now. I want to, but... I just can't. I'm in some weird rut that I can't get out of," Kei said and he looked down to his other hand before he pulled his hand off of Yamaguchi's chest.

Hearing that, Yamaguchi frowned and pushed himself up to stand. "Oh, okay. It's not me, right?" Yamaguchi asked with a furrowed brow.

"What? No, no, not at all! I'm just... Work has been stressing me out and I can't seem to concentrate on anything. I don't know what's wrong, honestly. But it's not you, I can promise that," Tsukishima said with a genuine look of apology on his features. It wasn't work that was stressing him out, but Yamaguchi didn't need to know that it was the neighbors that were stressing him out.

That was when Tsukishima stood up and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to Yamaguchi's lips. "It could never be you. I'll figure this out, okay?" Tsukishima said with a soft smile and he walked around Yamaguchi to go out to the kitchen and set their table.

Yamaguchi came out of the bedroom moments later and he seemed to have more bounce in his step. The smile on his face was a little brighter, and he seemed to have more energy than before. "I trust you, babe. Let's have dinner and get on with our night, yeah?" Yamaguchi said and he watched Kei start to set the table.

There was no telling what was going to happen next, but Tsukishima just wanted this to be over with. He didn't want to go through more of this, and he certainly didn't want to go through it if his boyfriend was going to worry about it. He had to find a way to get through this and go back to how he was with Yamaguchi before the neighbors came.

Unfortunately, though, Tsukishima was only like this with Yamaguchi to begin with because of the man that was over in the next apartment. Tsukishima was only able to behave this way with Yamaguchi because of Kuroo. So he didn't know if there was really a way to get through the motions anymore.

At the very least, it wouldn't be easy to get through all of this.

\---

It was a brisk Saturday morning, and Tsukishima was standing out on the porch, hoping that the fresh air would help him get through part of the day. It was unfortunate that he was struggling to get through the day still. The stress of all of this had to let up at some point. Didn't it?

Yamaguchi was still sleeping, and Tsukishima would let him sleep in. He didn't need to wake him for any reason today, and Yamaguchi didn't need to know that Tsukishima was out walking to clear his head _again_. Why worry him when Tsukishima had nothing to tell him, and had nothing to tell him about why should be worried? At least, Tsukishima wasn't going to tell Yamaguchi about this. He couldn't. The less he worried Yamaguchi, the better.

Taking a breath and taking a seat on the steps of his porch, the day was nice and warm on his arms and legs. Tsukki was sure that it would have been a good day if it weren't for the fact that he couldn't go to work today and distract himself further. Stretching for a moment, Tsukki tensed up when he heard a door open to the apartment next to his. He blinked for a moment and hoped to anything holy that he was imagining the sounds.

Of course, he wasn't imagining the sounds at all. They were there. And of course, it wasn't the female that had come out of the apartment.

Tsukishima watched as Kuroo walked down his steps and cross the sidewalk to all of the building's mailboxes. He was holding up a phone and talking to it. Tsukishima could hear the conversation pretty loud and clear right now, even though he didn't want to. He was eavesdropping though. "What? No, he hasn't come over since. I don't want him to anyway. To your point, Kenma, I can't have him anyway because I'm with Saeko now," Kuroo had said.

Slowly pushing himself up to stand, Tsukishima started to cross his yard to go to the mailboxes too. He continued to listen in on the conversation, because he had a feeling that Kuroo was talking about him with the people he was on the phone with. "But bro! You raved about how perfect he was and how much you wished you got his number! I know you love Saeko, but-"

"-but nothing, Bokuto. Kuroo isn't stupid enough to break up with someone he's happy with for a boy who is in a relationship and he can't have. Just let it go, okay?" someone had said through the phone.

Clearing his throat, Kuroo nodded and Tsukishima slowly got closer. Kuroo hadn't noticed him yet, which was a good thing he thought. "Kenma is right, Bokuto. I can't and I won't break up with Saeko for him. I love and care about her too much. It would break her heart and I just don't want to have that on my conscious. I could tell her, but what good would that do? It would make things awkward and she really likes Yamaguchi and..."

There was a sigh and Kuroo shook his head as he reached into the mailbox. Tsukki had finally reached out to touch the mailboxes too and it caused Kuroo to jump. "O-oh, Tsukishima. Hi. Uh... hey guys? I should go. I'll talk with you guys later," Kuroo had said as he hung up the FaceTime call and he looked at Tsukishima. There was an awkward look on his face, as if he was trying to come up with an excuse or something.

Pulling open his mailbox after he put in the right code, Tsukishima realized there was no mail in there and he closed it up. "So... friends of yours?" Tsukishima asked as he motioned towards Kuroo's phone to signal that he was talking about the FaceTime call. Kuroo didn't need to know that Tsukki had heard a lot of the conversation, but Kuroo had to know that he heard a bit of it and heard about him talking about Yamaguchi.

With a nod, Kuroo swallowed thickly and he looked towards the apartment. "Yeah, they're back in Tokyo, so I try to keep in touch." The air was tense between the two of them and it seemed like the sun was suddenly heating everything up. But maybe it wasn't the sun heating things up.

"We need to talk," Tsukishima said as he eyed Kuroo and he tilted his head.

That was when Kuroo sighed. He took a moment and he looked down to his shoes, scuffing his feet a bit before he looked back up to Tsukki. "I kind of feared that. But I agree, we do need to talk."

Tsukishima nodded. "Without our significant others." It pained Tsukishima to say that, but he said it and he looked down. He felt like he needed to explain, even though he had a feeling that Kuroo would understand and didn't need an explanation. "As much as they deserve to know, we have to talk without them for a bit. They... can't know about this. They can't know about us," Tsukishima said before he looked back up.

Agreeing, Kuroo was nodding. "You're right, they can't know. I just... It's hard, you know? You should have just given me your number... this wouldn't have happened if you had given me your number two years ago," Kuroo said in matter-of-fact voice.

Raising an eyebrow, Tsukishima shook his head. It was kind of ridiculous for him to be thinking that way. "You don't know if this would have happened. One, even if I had given you my number, I would have told you that we had to move on, because I don't believe in long distance relationships. At least, not for me. I know they can work, but they just aren't for me. Two, we can't change the past now. So there's no point in bringing that up. Who knows what you would have done?"

With a sigh, Kuroo shifted the mail in his arms and he looked towards the ground. "You're right. Okay, sorry. But honestly, I don't know how I'm going to get through this. We just..." Kuroo stopped and he let out a groan. This was painful for both of them. "How about... none of what happened on the vacation actually happened, okay?"

The world seemed to stop spinning for Tsukishima right then. Kuroo wanted to forget about this as much as he wanted to forget about it, but it hurt that Kuroo wanted to forget as much as he seemed to want to. And that was also not exactly how he could make this work. "Oh... well, that... Kuroo, I can't do that. That's where the basis of my whole relationship with Yamaguchi started. He knows that I'm only like this because of the fling we had. He knows that I was never like this before, so I can't just... forget the entire fling," Tsukishima said before he met Kuroo's eyes again.

"Oh. Well... then..." Kuroo stopped and he gasped a bit with wide eyes. "Tsukki, are you crying?"

There were tears in Tsukishima's eyes right then. All of the stress of all of this was boiling up. Everything was just so stressful that Tsukishima could feel his chest tightening and he felt like his lungs were going to collapse. Kuroo took his arm and Tsukishima flinched but allowed Kuroo to guide him to his porch so he could sit down.

It was only then that Kuroo pulled his arms away and he took a seat next to Tsukishima. "I don't want to pretend that the vacation never happened," Tsukishima said in a near whisper. "Even if it kills me, I... don't want to pretend that for one moment. That... vacation changed me, Kuroo. But... That's the real problem, isn't it?" Tsukishima looked up to Kuroo for a moment.

With a sigh, Kuroo nodded. "I don't want to pretend that it didn't happen either, because it did, and everyone knows it did... But what are we going to do?" Kuroo asked softly as he looked at Tsukishima.

Thoughts were running wild through Tsukishima's mind. He had to come up with a solution to all of this. There had to be a way to make this stop. "I don't know, honestly..." he said finally.

Groaning, Kuroo closed his eyes. "I wish we were back in Tokyo in that hotel room right now. There was nothing to worry about then..." Kuroo mumbled, and put his head in his hands with a sigh. It was a moment like this that caused Tsukishima to long for his lips against Kuroo's, to try to help him relax. But those were dangerous thoughts. He couldn't think about how their lips tasted together and how right they felt against one another. He couldn't think about how their fingers fit together like missing puzzle pieces.

He couldn't think about how right it felt to be with Kuroo.

"I wish we were back there too," Tsukishima murmured in thought. He remembered the nights they spent in the room, just talking. He remembered their first kiss, he remembered their fun with the sex. He remembered what it felt like to be held by Kuroo in his sleep.

Those times were all gone now, though, and Tsukishima really couldn't believe that he had made the stupid mistake of not giving Kuroo his number. Sure, maybe nothing would be different, but things would have been different from the moment Kuroo had moved here. If he had Kuroo's number, and Kuroo had his, Tsukishima wouldn't have to hide this secret. He could just tell Yamaguchi and come clean and they could work on this together.

"But we're not. We're here. All we can to now... Is make the best out of what we have, right?" Kuroo said as he lifted his head. He licked his lips and Tsukishima longed so bad to lean in and ravage those soft, pink pieces of flesh.

He knew that he couldn't though.

"We just have to do our best to move on, I guess," Tsukishima said quietly and he looked away from Kuroo, a pink flush on his face. "That's all we can do. So... we had a fun time in Tokyo. We can't let that control the rest of our lives. We have to get through this, because... our relationships deserve a chance."

The air stilled for a moment, because what Tsukishima had said was very true. Their current relationships did deserve a chance. They couldn't just break it off with Yamaguchi or Tanaka, and neither of them were cruel enough to do that. They were happy in their relationships before they ran into each other, so why couldn't they just continue on with what they had? "So... The vacation happened, but what if... we pretend it happened with different people. How much does Yamaguchi know about your vacation?"

With a sigh, Tsukishima thought about everything he had told Yamaguchi about the vacation. If he were being honest, Tsukki was surprised that Yams hadn't noticed or tried to compare the pictures from Tsukki's vacation to Kuroo. But Yamaguchi didn't like to look at those pictures, especially because it probably reminded him that Tsukki was romantically active with the person he spent time with on that very vacation. "He knows a lot, Kuroo. At least, I told him nearly everything. I just... didn't give a name. That's it. He saw all those pictures, he teased me about how much time I spent with you, and... I told him I slept with you, or at least the person on vacation."

It seemed that Kuroo really didn't want to know that information and he squeezed his eyes shut. "So he knows almost everything. Saeko only... knows that I had a fling, but she doesn't think it meant anything to me. It wouldn't be a big deal if she found out who you are, but when I tell her how much of a big deal you were on the vacation, it could potentially break her, and I don't really... want that..." Kuroo said with a sigh before he turned to look at Tsukki.

Hearing that Saeko thought that the fling meant nothing to Kuroo kind of hurt Tsukishima in ways he wasn't expecting. He knew that it did mean something to Kuroo, but it still caused Tsukki's heart to ache, because Kuroo had hidden how much Tsukki had meant to him.

Everything was still so very difficult, but now they were in a place where things didn't have to be so hard. They were talking about it and they were trying to find a way to move past all of this. "Yeah, I don't want that either. She... seems to make you happy," Tsukishima said with a bit of struggle, trying not to be sarcastic or judgmental about this situation and say something he would regret. He had no right to be.

"Yeah, she makes me happy. Yamaguchi seems to make you happy too," Kuroo noticed and he smiled to Tsukishima. "I'm glad you could find real happiness. I'm glad that our fling helped you relax and... start to appreciate your life with your friends more, really. We can get through this."

That was probably the last thing that Tsukki wanted to hear. He wanted to say 'but it could be happier with you,' or 'but I don't want to get through this,' but he immediately felt bad for thinking that way, because he felt guilty for Yamaguchi. If he completely took Kuroo out of the equation, Yamaguchi really did make Tsukishima happy. It was the moment that Kuroo was put back into the picture that Tsukki was starting to struggle and thought he might be happier elsewhere. Kuroo just had that hold on his heart still.

It was unfair, but it was just how things were. They had to find a way to get through this, didn't they? They wouldn't survive if they couldn't find a way to make it out of this.

Taking a breath, Tsukishima nodded. "Yeah, we can. We really don't have a choice I guess, so we will have to find a way," Tsukishima said as he looked at Kuroo.

Tsukishima's eyes locked onto Kuroo's eyes and he marveled at how small his orbs were, but just how piercing his eyes could be. Sure, they could soften up and they could be playful, but their resting state always seemed to be piercing as of late. They were never this way before if Tsukki remembered correctly, or maybe they were this way, before the two of them met. But right now, it was as though Kuroo's smiles hadn't reached his eyes in quite some time, and Tsukishima completely understood that. He knew how it was for smiles to not reach his eyes, because his smile hadn't reached his eyes since Kuroo had moved in next door.

With a bit of a yawn, Tsukishima rubbed his eyes and he turned his head when he heard his door open. "Oh! There you are, babe! And hello to you, Kuroo. Pleasant surprise seeing you here, and you're actually one of the two people I wanted to see. I was wondering if you and Tanaka... Or does she prefer Saeko? Anyway... wanted to come over for a game night to our house? It's been a little bit and I could definitely use some relaxing. Kei has off, so do I. So what do you say?"

The two boys that were sitting on the porch exchanged glances, having a private conversation with their eyes. Neither of them wanted to do this. Neither of them wanted to tell Yamaguchi that they didn't want to do this though, so they had to come up with a lie.

"Oh, Yamaguchi! It's nice to see you too, but... I don't know if it's the best time for a game night. Saeko has been-"

"I've been what?" Saeko asked as she approached Tsukki's front porch and she smiled to the three of them. Yamaguchi opened up the screen door so he could come out of the apartment and stand on the porch in his sweatpants. He didn't have a shirt on, but he seemed to be comfortable with that. "What were you asking, Yamaguchi?"

This was bad. "Oh, I was asking Kuroo if the two of you wanted to come over for a game night! I was going to invite some of our friends over, so you two could get to know more people and be a part of a social group. What do you say?" Yamaguchi asked.

It was the most inconvenient time for Saeko to come outside it seemed, because neither of them had seen this coming and neither of them really wanted to be a part of this. Sure, they would have to make it through regardless and they had just talked about what they were going to do in order to make it through, but it would take time. If they went right back into having a game night again, neither of them were really sure that they could make it through.

"A game night sounds excellent! We will be back over later tonight? What time is good for you?" Saeko asked and Kuroo flung his head back to look at his girlfriend, as if to say 'are you serious?' But she was absolutely serious and Tsukki was dreading what was going to happen tonight.

With a hum, Yamaguchi looked down to Tsukishima. "What do you think, babe? Five or so?" Yamaguchi asked and he looked back up to Saeko before Tsukki gave an answer.

None of this was in the control of Kuroo or Tsukishima. They would just have to play along and pretend like they wanted to do this, because they weren't able to control this happening. "Five works for us!" Saeko said as she reached for Kuroo's hand. Kuroo stopped for a moment before he realized she wanted him to stand up, probably to go back to their apartment.

"That just gives us time to get ready and time for our other friends to get here," Yamaguchi said with a smile as he reached for Tsukki's arm. Tsukishima put his hand in Yamaguchi's hand and stood up with his help. "We will see you later!" Yamaguchi called out as the other pair disappeared into their apartment.

When Yamaguchi looked up to Tsukishima, he gave Tsukki a concerned look. "What are you doing out here, babe?" he asked as he pressed himself against Tsukishima and he sucked in Tsukishima's warmth, since he was shirtless. "I missed you in bed, so I came to look for you," Yamaguchi said.

Taking a breath, Tsukishima leaned in to press a kiss to Yamaguchi's cheek before he pulled back and shrugged a bit. "I just wanted to clear my head is all, that's all I was doing out here. Kuroo just happened to be checking his mail," Tsukishima said before he pulled away from Yamaguchi and he reached around him to try to pull the door open. "But do we really have to do this game night thing again?" Tsukishima asked.

Yamaguchi made a face as he walked inside behind Tsukishima, and he waited until Tsukishima was looking at him to make a confused expression cross his features. "It's been a while since we've had a game night with them, so... why not?" Yamaguchi asked before he walked closer to Tsukki and leaned in to kiss him, just a quick peck. Unfortunately, that seemed to be all the two of them could manage lately. "Come on, babe, everything will be alright. It will be fun and our friends are sure to love them, especially Kuroo. Noya is going to love Kuroo," Yamaguchi said with a bit of a chuckle.

What Tsukki didn't know was that Yamaguchi was spending more time over with Saeko and Kuroo whenever Tsukki was late from work. So he got to witness Kuroo's antics a little more and learn about him a little more, which really wasn't a good thing and it was something that Kuroo probably should have mentioned to Tsukki. Tsukishima just didn't know that. "But what about Kageyama and Hinata? Do you really want to subject Saeko and Kuroo to those two?" Tsukishima asked, trying to find a way out of this, or at least finding a way out of inviting Kuroo over. It wasn't likely to work, but Tsukki was going to find a way to get out of this, even if he had to fake another illness.

It seemed as though Yamaguchi was starting to get fed up with Tsukishima's attitude though, so he shook his head and went to the kitchen to go start breakfast. Tsukki felt bad and he gave Yamaguchi a minute or two before he walked out to the kitchen himself and wrapped his arms around Yamaguchi's stomach, holding the boy close. It looked like he wasn't going to get out of this after all. "I'm sorry, I just... I don't know if I have the right energy for a game night. Maybe after a nap I'll feel better. But I don't want to nap right now, because it's too soon to nap," Tsukishima said with a sigh.

Leaning back into Tsukishima's touch, Yamaguchi smiled and hummed to his boyfriend and he pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you. We should definitely nap, so we can have fun later tonight. Even more fun. And maybe we can find an activity to tire us out even sooner," Yamaguchi said with a wink.

As much as Tsukishima loved Yamaguchi, he hadn't wanted to hear that. He didn't need to know that Yamaguchi had sex on the brain. Although, It would be a really nice thing for Tsukki to do, since the two of them hadn't been sexual since before Kuroo and Saeko had moved in next door. "Oh, I'm sure we can find something to tire us out," Tsukishima said before he pressed a kiss to Yamaguchi's neck in a flirty way, just to appease his boyfriend.

Finally, the two boys parted and they continued with their day. Yamaguchi was busy looking at all of their snack foods and Tsukishima offered to go out to go get more. They wouldn't make a full meal, but they would simply order pizza and wings, have out some snacks and drinks, and they would just play their games. It was hopefully going to be a good night.

The thing that Tsukishima was holding on to right now was the fact that there were going to be more of their friends around. Hopefully, none of them remembered Kuroo from the pictures and made a comment of any sort. But he would be able to distract himself more with more people.

Hopefully, anyway.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi did eventually go to nap, and Tsukishima wasn't able to get himself energized enough to enjoy his boyfriend in the sexual sense, but he was able to get Yamaguchi off so he could get a nap in. It was probably the only thing that the two boys had wanted, was to get a nap. That was what Tsukki had wanted, anyway.

Unfortunately, Tsukishima was unable to sleep. All he could do was think about Kuroo and what would happen once they got to game night. Would things fall apart? Would Tsukki be able to include Kuroo into his normal life? There was no telling what was going to happen.

The time of their nap had come to pass and Yamaguchi got up to go set up for game night. He got out plates, their snacks, and the sodas, while Tsukishima ordered more than enough pizza for everyone to enjoy. He ordered two sheet pizzas, because he knew that Hinata and Noya could eat their entire weight in pizza. Yachi and Kiyoko were coming over as well, so he ordered a few softer items, such as salads for an appetizer. He ordered wings, and a giant sheet cookie that they could split into pieces once things got started.

It was about four-thirty when there was a knock at the door. They hadn't been expecting anyone until five, but Tsukishima and Yamaguchi knew that some of their friends took that as 'come whenever you want.'

The surprise was that it wasn't their friends, it was the neighbors. At least, Tsukki didn't completely consider them to be friends just yet. Yamaguchi did though. "Hey! I figured we could come over to help you set up! We have some snacks and alcohol, if that's alright with the rest of the group you invite. We also have a few games that are good for bigger groups," Saeko said.

Kuroo and Tsukishima locked eyes for a moment, silently having a conversation once again about what in the world they were going to do. But hopefully things would be okay here shortly. Hopefully they would just get lost in the thrill and the fun of the evening. "Come on in! It's mostly all set up, but you are more than welcome to help Tsukki get out the games. The rest won't be here for a bit, and Tsukki asked the pizza delivery guy to not get here until 5:30. But I'm glad you guys are here," Yamaguchi said with a smile.

"Good to see that you have clothes on now," Kuroo teased gently to Yamaguchi. It seemed that he was really trying to make this work, and Tsukki really appreciated it. "Alright, where are those games, Tsukishima?" Kuroo asked as he looked at Tsukki.

They shared another look before Tsukki took Kuroo around the corner to the bedroom. Tsukki was sure that Kuroo didn't need to see where Yamaguchi and Tsukki slept at night, and got sexual at times. Sure, the only thing they'd done in the last while was Tsukishima giving Yamaguchi a hand job just a few hours ago, but Tsukishima could only imagine that Kuroo didn't want to think about these things. He knew that he didn't want to think about Kuroo sleeping with Saeko.

As they went to Tsukishima's desk in the room, he pulled out a drawer and started to hand Kuroo a few games. "I... couldn't help but notice that you're not wearing the bracelet anymore," Kuroo said quietly.

"Not here, Kuroo, please," Tsukishima nearly hissed. What if Yamaguchi had been walking by? "But no, I don't wear it anymore. It makes Yams uncomfortable, because he knows that the person who I had a fling with gave it to me," Tsukishima said as he started passing Kuroo even more names.

That was when Kuroo sighed gently. "Sorry, sorry. And yeah, I had to put the zebra hat away and hide the photo album from her. It's still hard when I see those things sometimes, but I didn't want her to know it was hard for me," Kuroo had said as he adjusted his grip on the games.

Standing up straight, Tsukishima nodded. "I used to wear it all the time before things started to get serious with Yamaguchi. He always kept looking at the bracelet though and getting quiet whenever he saw it, so I decided to put it away. I still have that. I still have the photo album. I still have the tiger hat, it's just... in a box in my closet," Tsukishima said before he closed up his desk and looked at the games in Kuroo's arms.

As the two of them were walking out of the bedroom, their faces managed to get just a little too close, and they stared into each other's eyes. They could both see that the other had wanted to close the distance. They could both tell that the other had wanted this. But each boy had to make themselves stop, because of the two people out in Tsukishima's living room.

How much they longed to close that distance. How much they longed to feel the other's soft, sweet lips against their own. But unfortunately, they knew they couldn't. They couldn't risk it and they absolutely couldn't cheat on their significant others. It would have been far too unfair.

Once they created distance, Kuroo cleared his throat and he shook his head. "Sorry, okay. Let's go..." He murmured as he carried the games out to the living room.

When they returned, Tsukishima noticed that Yachi and Kiyoko were there. They were just standing in the living room, holding hands and looking at one another with sweet smiles. Tsukishima definitely appreciated how sweet of a couple those two were. He liked to think that they would make it. He liked to think that they were truly in love and would stay together. He liked to think that about all of his friends in relationships, but it seemed that the two of them were closer than any of the other couples in their friend group. It was possibly because they were female, but they seemed to work great together. "O-oh! Hi Tsukishima!" Yachi had called out and it caused Kiyoko to look over to Tsukki as well. Yachi's eyes were now following Kuroo into the room.

"Hey Yachi, hey Kiyoko. I'm glad you two could come. This... is Kuroo," Tsukki said and he motioned to Kuroo, who was setting games on the coffee table. "And Saeko... did Yamaguchi introduce you to her?" Tsukishima wondered, not seeing them in sight. They were likely in the kitchen.

When they nodded, Tsukki hummed. "Well, they are our new neighbors. They are great," Tsukishima said, his inflection hiding the sarcasm. He thought Saeko was great, and at one time, he might have even thought that Kuroo was great. But now was definitely not that time.

That was when Kiyoko came a little closer to Kuroo, Yachi followed her like a lost puppy. She reached out her hand to Kuroo and gave him one of her signature smiles. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kiyoko," she said as Kuroo shook her hand.

Taking a breath, Yachi looked at Kiyoko, and Kiyoko nodded to her with a smile. It was such a sweet thing to watch from the two of them. Everyone knew that Yachi had a bit of an anxiety and panicking issue, but Kiyoko was there for every moment to remind her that she was okay. Tsukishima just thought that was the sweetest and it never failed to make him smile. Sure, he was a sarcastic asshole at times, but he could appreciate the love that Kiyoko and Yachi shared.

Yachi offered her hand out to Kuroo, who shook it and smiled back to Yachi. "I-I'm Yachi. K-Kiyoko and I are in a re-relationship," she said before she pulled her hand away and leaned into the touch of her girlfriend, who was wrapping her arm around Yachi and whispering something in her ear. It caused Yachi to smile and look at Kiyoko. "I love you," she murmured to Kiyoko.

Smiling down to her, Kiyoko leaned in to press her lips to Yachi's lips. It seemed as though Yachi had tensed for a moment, but had eased into the kiss before they pulled away. Tsukishima could remember when the two of them were dating, but didn't want the entire world to know for Yachi's anxiety's sake. They were dating, but Yachi wasn't comfortable with public displays of affection just yet. She was still working on it, but was getting better. The two girls had kissed in front of their friends before, but Kuroo was someone new, so she was probably freaking out about that just a little. "You're okay," Kiyoko murmured softly before she pulled away and went to go to the kitchen.

With Yachi following Kiyoko everywhere, it left Kuroo and Tsukishima out in the living room together. Kuroo hummed for a moment before he shrugged and he looked at Tsukki. "They seem sweet. I'm sure Saeko will get along with them well," Kuroo said before he took a seat on the couch and took a breath. "Is Yachi... going to be okay, though? She seemed to be kind of anxious around me," Kuroo noted.

That was when Tsukishima nodded. "Her anxiety is really bad and she has to take pills for it. But with Kiyoko here, she will be fine. If Kiyoko wasn't here, she would have been a literal fly on the wall, or a wall flower, because she wouldn't have spoken with you or Saeko. It's good that Kiyoko is here," Tsukishima said before he looked towards the door, hearing a knock there.

It happened to be Noya and Asahi. The two boys came in and then Hinata and Kageyama weren't too far behind. Suga and Daichi eventually came in, apologizing for being late and Suga throwing blame at Daichi for having to stop at a bakery first, but the two boys settled in and brought the pizza in with them, as well as pastries that Daichi had bought. Yamaguchi was ready to have a fit about that bit, because he wanted to pay for it himself, but he would slip some cash into Daichi's or Suga's jacket later.

Tsukishima was busying himself with the rest of the party and his mind seemed to be far away from Kuroo and Saeko at the moment. He knew they were there and he knew they were having fun, but he was just thankful that with other people being around, he was distracted enough to keep his mind from thinking about Kuroo.

Unfortunately though, the night was only just beginning. Unfortunately for them both, Kuroo and Tsukki would have to worry soon, because there was definitely no way that they were going to get off free this time around. It would have been phenomenal if they could have managed the entire night, but there was just no way it was going to happen as much as they wanted it to.

"So, we are going to get started soon, guys. We will partner up, and then we will start," Yamaguchi said with a gentle smile. He turned his attention back to Saeko and Kuroo for a moment though, and he looked around a bit. "So... we know that Saeko had to move here for work, but what about you, Kuroo? What did you do? What's your story? Do you like it out here or do you miss Tokyo?" Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima and Kuroo locked glances and the two boys felt like the world stopped right then. They both missed Tokyo and wanted to go back. But they couldn't tell Yamaguchi that. They couldn't tell anyone that.

Neither of them could want to go back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the wait on this chapter! I have been under a lot of stress and I am moving soon, though, so please forgive me! And this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but it's because of the situation, so... Aaaaaaahhh! I am sorry! Please enjoy though!

While everyone seemed to be chatting up a storm and trying to converse with one another and get caught up on each other's lives, the world had gone still for two of the boys in the room. Tsukishima would have gotten up to walk out if it wasn't too dramatic to do so, and Kuroo would have done the same if he could gave gotten away with it. But as they locked glances, Tsukishima flashed the raven-haired male a look that told him that they weren't going to bring anything up from the past. They couldn't. They owed it to their sanity to just let this die and not bring it up again.

With a deep breath, Kuroo just shrugged a bit and looked over to Saeko. "I do miss Tokyo, but I'm happy being here with my girl," he said. His smile was very forced and the blond could tell. It would have been hard for anyone else to notice, as the only people that knew Kuroo well enough were Tsukishima and Saeko, but it didn't even seem to register in the older girl's mind. But Tsukki knew.

That was when Yamaguchi whined a bit and he slumped into the couch cushion. "I'm sure you do miss Tokyo, so tell me about it. It's quieter and less hectic here though, right?" Yamaguchi questioned. He reached for Tsukishima's hand, who took it gladly and held onto his boyfriend, trying to force thoughts out of his head and focus on one of the good things in his life right then.

Unfortunately, Kuroo saw that little motion and he blinked at their interlocking fingers. The look in his eyes was screaming and begging for Tsukishima to stop, which only made the other boy hold his boyfriend's hand tighter. "Oh, yeah, it is less hectic. I just miss the atmosphere and the people back in Tokyo, that's all. I miss all of the wild adventures I had, and I miss... let's just say that I miss being the young bachelor that I was and having a wild time. But being single was lonely, so Saeko has fixed that bit for me," he said.

When Kuroo had mentioned that he missed being the 'young bachelor' back in Tokyo, Tsukishima had to close his eyes and use his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. What chance did the two of them have to survive the night?

This conversation was starting to become too much for Tsukki. He missed Tokyo so much right now. He missed being with Kuroo more than he wanted to admit, and he knew that it was wrong of him to want to go back. But he was human, so what was he going to do about all of this?

"Aw, well you two are a very sweet couple. We're glad you've moved all the way out here to suburbia and settled down out here," Yamaguchi said with a smile. Tsukki had to look at Yamaguchi and try to focus his thoughts on something else at the moment. He needed a break from thinking about his trip to Tokyo. This was such a bad idea to have game night. But it was happening and there was nothing that could be done about it to make it stop. "You know, Tsukki here took a trip to Tokyo a year ago," Tadashi said and he smiled to Tsukki, giving him a sneaky grin of a smile.

This wasn't going to be good.

Taking a breath, Tsukishima finally looked over at Kuroo once more, and the look on Kuroo's face was curious. What was Tsukki going to do about this conversation? There was nothing they could do about the past, so something had to be done about this talk right now. "Oh, yeah, I did. It was a good time," Tsukki said with a bit of a shrug.

"It was more than a good time for you. He needed the vacation, guys. He desperately needed it, and he came back better than ever. It would have been funny if you had bumped into Kuroo or Saeko out there, huh?" Yamaguchi asked with another smirk on his face.

Why was this conversation still going? "Huh, it would have been funny. You're right. But Tokyo is a big city, millions of people in it. The chance of that would have had to be one in a million at least," Tsukishima said, feeling a thin layer of sweat start to develop on his skin. Tsukki couldn't look at Kuroo and Saeko anymore, so he turned his eyes back to his boyfriend, trying to desperately not bring up his vacation in Tokyo.

Even the loud commotion happening in the party wasn't enough to cause Tsukishima to look away from his boyfriend's freckled face. He had to get his mind away from the past. There was no way that bringing any of it up could turn out well. He wanted to avoid it at all costs. The food seemed to be doing well enough and everyone seemed to be enjoying their pizza and other snack foods. It was a decent night and the group seemed to be having fun. "Babe?"

Yamaguchi had caught Tsukki staring for a little too long, and the blond flinched back to reality for a bit. "Huh?" the blond asked and he licked his lips, tilting his head just a bit to see what Yamaguchi had wanted, if anything other than to figure out why his boyfriend was being weird.

He got his answer.

"You were staring, I was beginning to think I had something on my face," Yamaguchi said as he started to wipe his face.

Trying to cover up his act of staring, Tsukishima leaned in to press a kiss to his boyfriend's cheek. It caused Yamaguchi to chuckle and shake his head. "Now you do have something on your face," Tsukki said, trying to be a bit of a shit right then. He had to do something to clear this all up.

Humming, Yamaguchi shook his head a bit more. "You're too good to me. Okay, we should get things started," the boy said before he looked back to the group and sat up a bit straighter. "Hey, so why don't we get things started! I think we should start one of the party games first, and we can get into the board games and card games later," Yamaguchi suggested to the group.

They seemed to agree with Yamaguchi and everyone started to form groups. Unfortunately, Saeko and Kuroo were on Tsukishima's and Yamaguchi's team, and everyone else grouped up too. "So, why don't we get this party started?" someone said.

The group started with simple charades and it seemed to be going very well at the time. It wasn't until Kuroo had gotten up to have the group guess his word that things got weird. Tsukishima wasn't sure that he could handle much more of this, but didn't he have to try? "Okay, so the clue was movie... the movie title is two words..." Yamaguchi said and he watched as the other tried to act it out.

This was all starting to bring up the games they played in Tokyo. It was starting to bring up those great, but painful memories of the nights they spent together. "Uh... Psycho? Godzilla? Those aren't two word movie titles," Saeko said as she laughed. "King Kong?"

When Tsukishima looked up to the way Kuroo was moving and acting things out, he let out a sigh. "Either Jurassic Park or..." Kuroo nodded and put up his hand to signal it was the second option Tsukki was thinking. "Jurassic World."

It was too easy, and the other group groaned and gave them a point. "Wow, Tsukki, you're good at this. I wouldn't have guessed that," Yamaguchi said as he leaned against his boyfriend.

"Yeah, it's like you know Kuroo or something, because you can just read what he's thinking," Saeko said with a bit of a laugh before she turned back to Kuroo and reached for his hand. "You two have a connection or something, don't you?" she asked.

"Or something."

There was an echo in the room. Tsukishima and Kuroo had said that at the same time and the two boys looked at each other. Saeko and Yamaguchi started to laugh, but Kuroo and Tsukishima looked at one another and they shared a look that was oozing hostility right then.

This wasn't two truths and a lie. This wasn't Tokyo. Kuroo and Tsukki could get through this. They owed it to each other and their partners to try to get through the pain of the memories.

Noya's turn came around and he started to act out his clue to his group. His clue wasn't as easy, apparently. The group was struggling to come up with the words that Noya needed for his word. It was comical for the rest of them to watch, but Noya seemed to be getting frustrated with his team right then. They couldn't guess it and groaned at their failure.

As the third group was ready to go, Tsukishima let out a sigh and looked back at his boyfriend. "I need some air I think. I'm feeling a bit stuffy right now," he murmured and he slowly pulled away from Yamaguchi, who was still holding his hand. "I'll be back, okay?" Tsukki excused himself and went towards the back porch. The group only watched him going for a few seconds before they turned back to their game and went back to having fun.

A nice breeze was coming across the lawn right then as Tsukishima came out of the house, walking towards the steps. He really just wanted to run and not stop right now. He wanted this to all go away. But they would have to keep going for another little while, because Tsukishima couldn't stop a game night. He couldn't risk causing stress for Yamaguchi or creating tension with their friends. He knew he just had to go for another few hours and then that would be it for a little while. He was sure that game nights like this were going to happen again, and he was sure that he would at some point be able to tolerate these things, but tonight was not the night.

Tsukki had no idea how long he had been outside, but he was busy watching the stars right then when he heard the back door open up. Curiosity got the better of him, so Tsukishima looked to see who it was. He regretted it instantly, and Tsukki sighed when he watched Kuroo close the door behind him and approach the steps to take a seat with Tsukishima. "Hey," Kuroo greeted as he took a seat. "You've been out here for nearly twenty minutes now. They've started the card games without us," Kuroo said.

That didn't surprise the younger boy. He shrugged and he looked back to the sky, trying his best to focus on the stars. It was a bit chilly outside, but he didn't mind. He just hoped he wouldn't get sick, because he didn't want to be forced to stay home from work, due to illness, and risk seeing Saeko and Kuroo more often. "Why'd you come out?" Tsukishima asked before he lowered his gaze to look at his old fling.

Kuroo lowered his gaze to Tsukki right then. "I just wanted to apologize. I know I haven't been making things easy, but... It's not easy for me either, you know. It's just as difficult to see you holding hands and kissing Yamaguchi's cheek," the man said in a low voice and he licked his lips.

The heart in Tsukishima's chest started to beat a bit more furiously. "I know, but I'm only really trying to control my emotions and remind myself that I have Yamaguchi and my heart needs to behave itself," he mumbled and he leaned his head against the rail of the porch.

Nodding, Kuroo let out a sigh. "I really am sorry, but thank you for letting us come over. It makes Saeko happy, so I'd do anything to keep that happening," Kuroo said and he cleared his throat.

"I think maybe you two should leave," Tsukishima mumbled, not bothering to bring his eyes to look at Kuroo. He didn't need to see the look on the other boy's face. It was hard enough to ask for that, let alone see how Kuroo felt about all of this. "I know it might make Saeko upset, and I'm sorry if it does, but I just don't know how much more of this I can take," Tsukki said and he finally met Kuroo's face with his eyes.

There was a look of sadness on Kuroo's face and there seemed to be a bit of irritation underneath all of it too. It took a few moments for Kuroo to respond, because he was just trying to figure out what to do it seemed. "Oh, yeah. Okay, I can suggest that we leave. I'm sorry if this has been causing you too much stress," Kuroo murmured and he finally pushed himself up to stand. "But just know that now that Saeko has it in her mind that you and Yamaguchi are okay with game nights like this, she's going to want to have them more often," Kuroo said with a bit of bile in his tone.

It wasn't meant to hurt Tsukishima, but it sure did. It hurt him in more than one way. One, hearing Kuroo talk to him like that was damaging. Two, the thought of Kuroo and Saeko coming over more often was a thought that he didn't want to have. "So we will have to do this more often... well, I will have to manage somehow," Tsukishima said with a bit of a sigh. "Maybe it will make all of this easier if we start to do this more often. We can only hope, right? Because there's no way that we can get out of this from happening, unless one of us moves," Tsukki said with a dry and bitter laugh. There was no way that was going to happen, but Tsukki could only hope at some point that this was going to get easier.

"Maybe. I personally feel like it gets harder every time, because I'm reminded about it and just how... great it all was," Kuroo murmured. That caused Tsukishima to sigh and he nodded in agreement. It was beginning to get more and more difficult as time went on. It was supposed to be getting easier, but it really just wasn't getting easier at all. It was becoming more of a pain in the ass. "I should probably get back inside. You might want to consider doing the same before your boyfriend thinks something is wrong."

"Yeah, probably," Tsukishima murmured.

While standing up, Kuroo stretched a bit and went to the door, revealing his abdomen a little and causing Tsukishima's mind to flutter. "Fucking hell, Yamaguchi is a good guy. I'm glad that he was the one that you replaced me with... I can see why you wouldn't want to break his heart over all of this. I just don't know if I can do this for much longer, you know?"

When Kuroo had said that, Tsukki froze on the spot. Kuroo was not allowed to start thinking like that. Tsukki knew exactly where the man was going with all of this. "No. Don't even... Kuroo, we have to keep this up. We have to keep going with all of this, because we owe it to them. We are both in great relationships. Yamaguchi deserves the world, and Saeko is a very nice girl for you. We can't just throw this all away, got it?" Tsukki nearly spat at Kuroo. He was trying to get Kuroo to understand. He was trying to get him to see that they really couldn't do anything more than what they were doing, and they had to try to suffer through this. It was going to be hard, but they had to.

It would eventually get easier. That was at least what Tsukishima was hoping for.

Finally sighing and letting his head hang, Kuroo nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry again. I'll tell Saeko I'm tired so we can get home," Kuroo said softly as he opened the door.

The two boys walked in the house and watched as the whole group seemed to be playing some sort of card game that required throwing the cards into the middle of the circle that they had formed and shouting things at one another. Tsukishima was glad he had missed out on this card game, honestly, because he wasn't too terribly sure he had the energy to play whatever game was happening right now. As he took a seat next to Yamaguchi, who was sitting next to Saeko at the time, he got his boyfriend's attention before it went right back to Saeko. "We should make this a weekly thing, yeah? I mean, obviously if we have to do other things, some of the group can meet up and just have fun without the others. But we should really try to make this a weekly thing so we can all release some stress! What do you think?" Saeko asked as Kuroo had taken a seat next to his girl after Noya had moved over.

That was when Yamaguchi lit up like a goddamned Christmas tree and he nodded excitedly. "We can try! Hey guys, what do you think about that? If we tried to make this weekly?"

Thankfully, no one seemed to be paying attention to Yamaguchi and they were more focused on the game. "We will talk about it another time, but I definitely think that's a really good idea," Saeko said as she turned her attention back to the game and started to play. That was when Kuroo cleared his throat and got his girlfriend to look at him.

"Hey, so I'm exhausted and I think I should probably be headed home. Will you come with me? I'm starting not to feel so well..." Kuroo lied. Tsukki was thankful that he would lie to Saeko like this. Although, honestly, maybe Kuroo wasn't lying completely. Tsukki wasn't feeling well himself, at least not in an emotional sense.

It only took a moment for Saeko to look over Kuroo's face and she let out a sigh afterward. "Can we finish this game first before you make me say my goodbyes?" Saeko asked and she groaned a bit. "I don't want you going home alone if you're not feeling well," she murmured before she looked back at the game in front of them.

Tsukki was beyond thankful for Kuroo at the moment. He definitely thought that getting some space from the pair was what he needed. He honestly wasn't too sure of what he would do if he had to spend much more time with Kuroo and Saeko. He didn't need them to ruin the whole group's fun.

It seemed to be by luck that something else had happened to cause the party to come to a screeching halt. Yachi had gotten up and excused herself to go get sick in the bathroom, and everyone else wanted to clear out of the house to hopefully not catch whatever was going around. "Kuroo, I swear if you caught what she has..." Saeko murmured as she looked back around to Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. "Thank you for having us, and it was nice to meet everyone! I hope we can do this again soon!"

As everyone seemed to be chatting as they left, Yamaguchi walked over to Daichi's and Suga's jackets to go sneak cash into their pockets. He knew he would get bitched at by both of them for doing that, but Yamaguchi wasn't one to take hand outs. Although, if they were going to be doing this more often, he would have to ask some of his other friends to chip in on food. It was only fair, Yamaguchi thought.

When Kuroo and Saeko were leaving, Kuroo and Tsukki shared one last glance before the couple walked out and left the house. That was a relief to Tsukki. He needed Kuroo to leave and he needed a break from all of this. If he didn't have to see the raven-haired male for a little while, he would be very happy with that. If only he could get his mind off of their neighbors, Tsukki thought that he might be okay.

After everyone was gone, Tsukki looked around the mess of the house and he regretting not asking everyone to clean up first. But he knew that this wouldn't be too much of an issue, because he knew that he and Yamaguchi could have it cleaned up in a few minutes. Though, the very first thing Yamaguchi went to go do was to clean up the bathroom and cleanse any of the germs that Yachi had left. That only took ten minutes, and the pair were left standing in the living room.

Tsukki just wasn't too sure he was feeling cleaning right now. "What do you think happened with Yachi? Probably just... too much fun and excitement for the girl, maybe?" Yamaguchi asked as he started to clean up the cups and plates that were around.

Thankfully, nothing was spilled or made too difficult to clean up. "I don't know. But I don't feel sick like that at least. I know Kuroo was feeling sick, so maybe something is going around. But you know how Yachi is. She is too excitable usually and her anxiety isn't nice, so it could have been anything," Tsukki said as he shrugged his shoulders and started to stack the left over plates.

Of course his boyfriend would notice, but Tsukishima had an off note to his voice right then. "Are you okay?" Yamaguchi asked, reaching to rub Tsukki's back.

That was when the blond sighed softly. No, he wasn't okay. He didn't think he would be okay for a long while. "I don't know, really. I don't feel sick physically, I'm just... something is off," Tsukki mumbled. "Maybe I need to go see a doctor..."

With a sigh, Yamaguchi pressed himself up behind Tsukishima. "I'm sure you're okay, but if you feel you need to see a doctor, you should go see one. Maybe you can get on those medications you were telling me about. The antidepressants. Anything to make you happier, babe," Yamaguchi said with a smile.

That was when Tsukishima turned around in his boyfriend's arms. There was something that caught his eye from outside through the window, but it was probably just the wind or something of the sort. Honestly, Kei didn't think it was anything, so he just turned his eyes back down to Tadashi. "I love you. Tadashi, you know that, right...?" Kei asked before he bit his lip and looked at his boyfriend's face.

"Of course I know that," his boyfriend stated with a smile. Tsukki smiled and closed his eyes. Unfortunately, it didn't stop the tears from forming and it didn't cause anything to barricade his emotions from making a scene right then. "I know you love me, just like I hope you know that I love you," Yamaguchi said.

It was still becoming very difficult to control his emotions at the moment, but finally, Tsukki let the dam fall down and he sniffled a bit. "Babe..." he whispered before he started to croak and he wrapped his arms tightly around his boyfriend.

There was no way Kuroo was going to mess this up for Tsukki. There was no way he was going to give up his love and respect for his boyfriend, because there was no way he could go back to the way things were. Sure, there were times that he wished he could go back and find a way to make long distance work. He wished he would have found a way to get Kuroo to move back home with him back then and he had found a way to keep Kuroo. But that was in the past. They couldn't go back to it.

Yamaguchi was Tsukishima's present and he was also his future. There was no way he was giving any of this up right now. So as he held onto his boyfriend, he let out his emotions in the tears that he held onto and he was trying to get them all out.

If he had been truthful from the start, maybe game nights wouldn't have to be a common occurrence. If he would have just told Yamaguchi what and who Kuroo was to him, maybe everything would be easier. But because Tsukishima hadn't spoken to Yamaguchi about all of this and because the boy didn't know how difficult any of this was, he would have to find a way to make it through on his own and suffer through having to interact with their new neighbors.

As Tsukishima loosened his grip on Yamaguchi, he finally pulled back to give his boyfriend a watery smile. That was when the two boys leaned in to share a loving kiss and that was also when things finally felt right in Tsukishima's life once more. At least, they felt right for a mere ten seconds. He would hold onto this feeling.

The kiss was very sweet and lasted for thirty seconds. As the two boys pulled back, they looked at each other. "You don't have to tell me what any of that was about, but just know that I'm here for you, okay? I love you and I care about you, so please, if you want to talk, just know that I'm going to be here to listen. You've got me," Yamaguchi said softly.

Tsukishima couldn't focus on what Yamaguchi was saying right then, because the boy was too focused on what he was seeing outside the window. It was Kuroo, who was standing there and watching them. Or at least, it seemed like he was watching them, but he was looking away now. Tsukishima couldn't help but glare out the window and send negative thoughts towards Kuroo, because he knew the look on Kuroo's face had been disgust. What was Kuroo even doing outside of his window?

Though, could he blame the older male for looking away? Tsukishima didn't think he could, because he was trying his best not to make faces at all of the romantic things that Kuroo was doing with Saeko just a half hour ago. They had to focus on their current relationships and they had to make them work. They couldn't go back.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I'm sure we will talk, babe. But... thank you, really. I'm fine for now. Let's get this all cleaned up so we can go to bed, okay?" Tsukishima suggested before he looked back to the living room. 

The mess had really been so much better after their little bit of cleaning, but Tsukishima knew they had more to do that night. He knew that there was no way that he could go to bed with the apartment being this messy. It really wasn't that bad anymore, but the clutter still laying around and the pizza still sitting out still needed refrigeration before his anxious and obsessive compulsiveness could be put to rest for the night.

If Tsukki were being honest, he wanted to know what Kuroo was doing back outside of his house. He really wanted to know what the point was of Kuroo just standing back outside. Did he need something? Why didn't he knock? It wasn't until Tsukki laid eyes on Saeko's sweater that he realized what Kuroo was doing back over there. "Oh..." Tsukki mumbled before he looked back at Yamaguchi. "I'll text Kuroo and tell him to come back over," Tsukishima murmured.

Even though he had never gotten Kuroo's number back in Tokyo and he had refused to give Kuroo any type of contact information a year ago, Yamaguchi had gotten all of Kuroo's information and put it into Tsukki's phone for him, which Tsukishima honestly didn't want, but he also didn't need to argue with his boyfriend over it either. "Or we could just take it over! I'm sure they wouldn't mind seeing us!"

That caused Tsukishima to sigh a bit. "I'm... kind of drained after my cry, but I guess we can, yeah," Tsukishima mumbled and he put his phone away and decided to go for his shoes instead. "Are my eyes red?" Tsukishima asked as he rubbed his eyes from under his glasses.

The look on Yamaguchi's face told him the answer before he got an actual verbal response. "Yeah, they are. Maybe you should stay home... I can go though," Yamaguchi offered up and he reached for the sweater in Tsukishima's hands. "I don't want you to go if you're tired, love. Go get some rest and I will be there soon." 

It was honestly a bit of a relief that Yamaguchi was willing to take the sweater over on his own. He was sure Saeko wouldn't miss it for a night, but even just the thought of the sweater being in the house was more than enough to set Tsukishima's emotions on edge. He leaned over to press a kiss to Yamaguchi's cheek, and he smiled to his boyfriend. He was honestly such a great boy, and Tsukki was beyond lucky. "I love you," Tsukishima murmured.

Of course, Yamaguchi needed to kiss Tsukki's lips instead of just his cheek in return. But Tsukki didn't mind. The more kissing they did, the more Tsukki was reminded of the way he felt for his boyfriend. "I love you too. Go get ready for bed, I'll be back soon," Yamaguchi said as he went to go get his shoes on and took the sweater out the door.

This wasn't going to get any easier. Tsukishima hated all of this and he wanted to find a way to get away from this situation. The only way Tsukki wasn't going to see or interact with Kuroo again was to move away and to break all contact. But it was by chance that they happened to be living next to each other now, so what was to say that they wouldn't be living close enough to each other in the future if Tsukishima did get away?

This was all very upsetting, but Tsukki couldn't help himself from actually looking at apartments for rent on the other side of the country, just because he was that desperate to get away from Kuroo.

It wasn't going to be possible, and Tsukishima could only hope that all of this would get easier.

Would it?


End file.
